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- Craig •
- MSID Program in Ecuador •
- Physiology & Spanish Majors
“I thought it was extremely beneficial for me as far as developing who I am and the way I think about things.”
—Craig |
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Through the year-long MSID program in Ecuador, Craig C. was able to take an internship within his Physiology major while also receiving classroom credits towards his Spanish major. He was able to continue to work in the sciences teaching biology and anatomy to local high school students, while also studying new topics in Spanish.
“Being a physiology major I pretty much just take the typical science classes, lectures and labs. The classes for the MSID program are more like humanities: culture, history, global development theories and different methodology. It was definitely a nice change of pace for me, a lot more of writing essays and a lot more conceptualizing of different theories. I definitely enjoyed it, I had a lot of fun, and it helped me think about things in a different light.”
Craig found his class work and internship to be valuable experiences that eventually led to a newfound interest in education.
“Well the internship for that program you can do pretty much in whatever you want to do so if you are interested in health you can go work in a hospital, if you are interested in human rights you can work with a human rights organization. I did education…I initially went down there looking to get into public health. Then I decided kind of while I was there through a number of different processes that education was more what I was interested in. So I ended up going into education, which basically was being a teacher’s assistant for a number of different classrooms in different public schools in Ecuador. I guess kind of my theory as to what I want to do with my life emerged from the whole process because before I was thinking health sciences...but as we would go through these humanity courses we would start discussing different issues that you find just in society in general. And it wouldn’t be health issues it would be morality issues, ethical issues. I eventually decided to go into education. I think that it was inevitable process I think that I was going to go through it anyways, but obviously going abroad kind of accelerated it and make me think about it more.”
Craig had the opportunity to live in Quito, the capital city, as well as in a small rural area, giving him two uniquely different experiences while living in Ecuador.
“I guess for me the most rewarding part of all was my relationship with the second family that I had in the rural area just because you realize a lot of things when you are in a situation of limited resources.”
Overall, Craig said that his study abroad experience is something that he will never forget.
“I thought it was extremely beneficial for me as far as developing who I am and the way I think about things.”
Last modified on May 13, 2008 |