Study Abroad Profile
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“...you definitely need to get out there. Studying abroad will cause you to grow, which you need in order to be successful.”


—Talitha

Why did you choose that program?

I knew that I wanted to go to Africa but I didn’t know a lot about any of the countries as far as which one would be the best fit for me so I asked some of my friends and they said, well if you are interested in African art and literature then Ghana would be a great place to go. So I looked at the different programs that the LAC offered. At the time there was MSID and CIEE. And I did take into consideration the budget because the CIEE is a great program but it does cost just a little bit more than the MSID. But then the other thing that I thought about was just the content of the program because they are completely different programs. MSID… you are not in the classroom as much and you do internships. And I thought well this would be something interesting to explore. So I just decided to go ahead…it fit my budget, it fit what I wanted to do… so I thought that it was a perfect fit for me.

What did your program consist of you doing?

Well, in the fall we had a small classroom. It was set up not at the university but we had faculty members from the university come to this house that was rented out and it became our classroom. And there were only about four or five of us altogether. So for the first part we studied international development. It was like going to class, you had readings and things like that. And then at the end, for about three or four weeks, we were assigned to a different internship site. I interned at the W.E.B DuBois Centre, I was in Accra and I really liked it. I was stationed in the library and in the areas where a lot of people are given tours. So I got to do a lot of observation and look at some of the different books, and just meet with the people coming to the library. My site supervisor there just seemed so much more interested in “how can I help her”, like he really wanted to help me instead of what I could do for him. And I really appreciated that.

Spring semester everyone went home except for me, which was fine. I was happy because we all would have gone our separate ways anyway. I decided to explore a different area so I moved to a more rural area in the ∫Ashante region. And for that I took… It was a total of 16 credits but none of it was in the classroom. So full-time, I would be at this internship site and it was called the Single Parent Foundation so they worked with both single parents households as well as people affected by HIV aides. So for most of the day I would be over there, observing and participating in the activities that I could. On my down time I would have to do just a little bit of reading but for the most part it was just for my other courses you had to either do firsthand research or you had to observe the culture and then reflect on that. So there was a lot of writing involved and there weren’t really a whole lot of deadlines so it was nice. It was very, very relaxed.

What was it like working directly with this culture? Are you still in touch with people?

Well I definitely have remained in contact with a lot of people over there, which I’m really happy about because I know I’ll going back and so I’ll have a base over there that I can go to people when I need help. For me, especially studying international development there are a lot of theories going around, which you would just learn...if you were sitting in the United States you would just learn about the theories and that would be it. But for me I learned about some of the theories and then when they put me out into the community for me it was just like “oh”. These are the theories, but a lot of the people in the community who we were trying to help don’t even know the theories. So it’s really, not even what’s the point… but I realized that I have to go beyond learning about those theories but just seeing what does the community really want and how is the best way to approach it. It needs to be community centered, not just western focused or anything else “focused” but just community centered in the community that you are trying to help.

What has this experience meant for you now looking back?
Well, being abroad in Africa in general, it really meant a lot to me because I always knew as an African American and just being strongly connected to Africa that I would go there some day. But I really didn’t know on what level I would remain involved with Africa. But going there and working with the people really confirmed a lot of things for me that I would be not only successful there but happy there. So now returning to the states, all I think about is going back. I am fine here, but really all I think about is going back there and seeing how I can impact the community. And now that I have a better idea of what it’s like and what are some of the needs…I have a better vision for my life and how to approach doing things. Eventually, I will end up there permanently. I want do to community development, and it’s nice because prior to participating in the program I knew about international development but it wasn’t a label that I would necessarily use for what I wanted to do. But then going there I learned how broad international development is and so I thought, “oh, I guess I could call it that’s what I am doing”.

Personally what kind of affect has this experience had on you?

When I first arrived there, there were some challenges that I had to go through before it became more of a home for me. The people in Africa don’t always view us as a brother or a sister, or initially. So when I arrived there it was really painful to me, but once I got acclimated to the culture…once I understood the culture I got to know people better on a more intimate level. So I realized despite that challenge, there were aspects of culture that I didn’t even really need to be raised with but that were somehow just instilled in me. It was the pace, the food, the music, the dancing all the time…I was so healthy and I was so happy. There were some stress-induced symptoms that I had in the states and they just went away. It was a blessing to go there and I definitely grew and just my sense of identity…it forced to me to just really think about my identity and how I really want to define myself because I struggled a lot with… Being African American not everyone considers you African, but I do… It was rewarding.

A particularly memorable moment?

Before we even landed, I felt like I was in Africa. After I left Amsterdam, almost everyone else on the plane was Ghanaian. My experience actually started in the plane, my study abroad or my cross-cultural experience. I remember that there was a baby on the plane and she just kept crying and it was kind of precious because instead of the mom just trying to take care of the baby and make her calm down she passed the baby around the plane to different women trying to call the baby down.

What would you say to someone considering studying abroad?

I would say that you definitely have to do it. I know that people say that it’s a small world. The world is really large as far as exploration. If you stay where you are familiar with, you are not going to learn as much about yourself, about the world in general, about maybe what you want to do. So you definitely need to get out there. Studying abroad will cause you to grow, which you need in order to be successful.

 
Last modified on November 21, 2008