Yay for Study Abroad!

For me study abroad fits into Paideia in two main ways. First it continues the theme of stretching oneself, and maybe committing to something you might not otherwise do. Second, based on the program that Sue suggested for me on our first meeting studying abroad will provide me with an oppertunity in my field (psychology) that I wouldn't otherwise get. The oppertunity to take a number of remarkable classes about subjects in psychology that are not typically offered at SU.

When setting out to find a program for study abroad I had two main goals; to find an oppertunity in my field that I wouldn't otherwise get, and to see as many different places as possible in my time abroad. Now that the first of my goals has been met I am working on arrainging the second. Luckily, I will have the opertunity to travel a great deal within the program I have chosen, however I am also looking into ways of expanding my travel oppertunities on my own after the program ends and my summer break begins.

As an extremely curious and self-modivated learner there are a number of ways in which I expect my study abroad experience to be no different than my experience at SU. I expect that I will continue to research certain topics that interest me purely for the fun of it and to take every available oppertunity to visit museams, art gallaries, theatrical and musical productions, as well as cultural events. However, the main thing I hope to gain while studying abroad is a somewhat greater sence of independance and cofindance in my ability to adapt and produce quality work in an unfamiliar environment. I additionally hope to gain increased knowlage and proficienty in my field as I hope to gain from all my academic ventures.

I mainly expect my time in Copenhagen to build on and expand what I have learned at SU and to act as a building block for further learning when I return to SU.

The distance from my family and freinds is a bit of a concern for me that is compounded by the time difference. However I feel fairly confidant about the structure of the program and the dedication of the staff (something that I was aprehensive about previously). Another concern for me is the weather as I have every reason to expect that January in Denmark will be colder than a girl from Texas like me could ever imagine. I guess I'll just have to ask for a super warm coat the Christmas before I go.

At this point my plan for study abroad is to study abroad in the Spring of 2010 (the second semester of my junior year). I plan on studying in Copenhagen, Denmark through the Danish Intitute for Study Abroad (DIS). I plan to study in the Psychology track of the program and take 13-14 hours worth of classes. I am so excited and I can't wait to go!

50 Facts

I enjoyed leading my 50 Fact discussion, however I do feel that the discussion felt a bit more like a lecture than I would have liked. I would have preferred if more people had joined in on the discussion and shared their thoughts and opinions. Additionally, I feel like I did a great deal of the talking during the discussion. This is probably partly due to my own gregarious nature, but I also wonder if it was in part due to the more unusual nature of the topic I chose – rather than a topic like religion, with which most if not all people have at least some experience. Perhaps discussion would have flowed more easily if everyone had a more extensive background regarding languages.

However, leading the discussion was a great chance for me to learn about something new and different. Language extinction is probably not something I would ever have done research on if it weren’t for Paidiea. I am also having a lot of fun reading the 50 Facts book, because it makes me think about things I probably wouldn’t otherwise think about and it raises my awareness for a number of important issues.

This is a link to the Rosetta Project website so anyone who is interested in learning a bit more about language preservation can.
http://www.rosettaproject.org/

What I Expect from Paideia

I signed up for Paideia for several reasons. I thought that it might stretch me, for instance I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of studying abroad, but I know it will be a very enriching experience, and by being involved with Paideia I will be forced to do that and hopefully some other things that will give me great learning experiences but that I might not otherwise do. I also chose Paideia because I knew that this year would be my only opportunity to join a Paideia cohort and I didn't want to regret not getting involved in Paideia. Another reason that influenced my decision to join Paideia is the opportunity to learn from others prospective. I spend a great deal of time absorbing information through a psychology perspective and that’s great because I’ve been inspired by another discipline quite the way that psychology inspires me, but I also know that there are many other valuable and interesting perspectives to consider (especially at a school like SU) and I want to be able to learn as much about as many different things in as many different ways as I can. And to be entirely honest I can’t complete this section without including another motivation for doing Paideia – the McCombs apartments. I also wanted a shot at having my own room and bathroom my sophomore year, and to be entirely honest I couldn’t be happier with my living situation. This is the first time ever I haven’t had to share a bathroom with someone and it is heavenly. The main reason I chose the section “Understanding Human Behavior” is because that is really what drives me. Many of my life and academic goals revolve around a deeper understanding of human behavior and I think that in coming to understand humanity in a deeper and more honest way will lead to greater peace and stronger community ties in our world.

My goals for the Paideia experience involved a lot around the idea I mentioned before about stretching myself, going outside my comfort zone if you will. There are quite a few things about Paideia that are not the most comfortable. For instance I really like structure it makes me comfortable and I feel that I have things more under control within structured environments. For me structure does not have to be imposed from the outside, I am perfectly happy to enter an unstructured environment, but then I create a structure for myself. However one of the unique things about Paideia is that because of the group dynamic I can’t really create structure without forcing it on others (something I certainly do NOT intend to do). So I hope to become more comfortable with fluid programs during my time in Paideia. I’m also typically not a huge fan of group work because in my past experiences I’ve been left having to do everything at the last minute a lot and that really sucks. I’m hoping Paideia will give me a new prospective on group work and help me to trust others to do their part while learning to better collaborate constructively. I also expect Paideia to change my mind about some things, I think that sometimes people just decide that their opinions are right and then close their minds to all other options but this past year I learned a lot about there not ever being one right answer to any question (unless of course a professor is asking you). And through some really interesting discussions I was able to listen more without assumptions about “right” and “wrong”, learn new ideas, facts, and ways of looking at things, and ultimately form a more well rounded opinion of certain issues.

I really have no idea where I want to study abroad, but I do know that wherever I go I want to find a place that will allow me an opportunity within my field of study that I would not otherwise have. I think I’d also like to go somewhere that I haven’t been before. I’m very hesitant to consider any program that only has classes in a language other than English because honestly my Spanish is pretty weak and that is the only foreign language I’ve ever studied. But I would be willing to go to a place that has a native language other than English, just as long as I can write my papers in my native tongue.

I’m excited about the idea of the civic engagement project because I think that it is such an important part of being a good global citizen. Although I am often far from successful I try very hard to maintain a certain level of involvement in whatever community I am in through volunteer work. I’m really open to most issues we could work with in the area of civic engagement, but some areas that I have done work in or have interested me in the past include; AIDS/HIV, mental health, care for the under/uninsured, environmental issues, living wage/rights of the worker, the chronically homeless, and educating voters on issues important to elections.

I’m not really especially concerned about anything in Paideia yet, but that could easily change as the semester wears on. I’m not really worried about this but I will be curious to see how the dynamics of our cohort change next year as we leave to study abroad at different times. Also I really don't like that I can't use the tab key to indent in this program when I'm typing.