By Michelle Heims
I am so incredibly excited for my trip and there is so much that I want to do. Firstly, I want to gain knowledge that will be relevant for future studies, careers, opportunities, and experiences. This trip has so much to offer between our classes abroad and our weekly excursions. Through all of this I want to expand my knowledge on human rights, social justice, international affairs, and similar topics. I also want to broaden my knowledge of other cultures and regions which is very important to me. Besides gaining knowledge, I also want to explore all the new places I go. I want to do as much as I can in Prague, since that’s where I’ll be for most of my time abroad, but I also want to see a lot when we go on class excursions and free time trips. I will be going to other countries besides the Czech Republic and so I want to see and do as much as I can in each place so that I can make the most out of my experience. Third, I want to make friendships and connections that I can hold onto. I am looking forward to meeting incredible people who are also interested in the aforementioned topics and I hope that I leave this experience with new friends. Additionally, I will meet professionals that I can learn a lot from and look up to and I hope to make some professional connections as well.
Furthermore, on this trip I am expecting to develop professional skills of mine such as critical thinking and equity and inclusion. In regards to critical thinking, I believe that the two classes I will take will stimulate a lot of thought and analysis on different aspects of history, ethical questions pertaining to human rights, international affairs, and policy(both domestic and foreign). The work we do will go deeper than surface level thinking and so I believe I will learn how to better think critically. I also think that I will further develop this skill by making connections between the past and present as it is clear that history does in fact repeat itself. Thinking critically is not only crucial for my day to day life, it is also pertinent for my future career goals. For this reason I really want to work on developing my critical thinking skills so that I can apply it to opportunities next school year and beyond. Secondly, although I already know how and why to be including and show equity, I want to learn effective ways to promote it and work towards a better society. I want to see how governments, international institutions, and organizations are working towards human rights progress so that I can learn from these methods and use them in the future and even build and improve off of them as well.
It was actually really hard picking a quote because I have seen so many ones about studying abroad that really resonated with me. However, one that stuck with me was: “Studying abroad is about experiencing a foreign country — and the most beautiful, important part of a country’s culture is its people.” by Alexander Kolker. I think that in order to truly understand human rights and international affairs, you have to be able to understand those affected by it. Simply learning about government or political figures isn’t enough. During my trip I want to understand the people and what they went through.
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