I have some exciting news that I can’t wait to share with you! I’m going to Italy to study abroad for two weeks this summer! I am so excited. I am going to be staying in Rome and Arezzo with two day trips to Florence. I have never been to Italy so I am extremely excited. Right now, I am taking a “Greek gods and heroes in art” class and a ton of my favorite pieces are in Italy. I am excited to learn Italian culture and meet some locals. I don’t know any Italian which makes me a little bit nervous, but mostly I’m excited. We will be doing educational day trips as well as fun activities such as cooking classes during this time. I am going from June 5th – June 19th and before these two weeks, I will be going to Athens, Greece for a few days. I believe that this trip will teach me a lot about both Greek and Italian culture as well as a lot about myself. I am making it a goal for myself to venture out of my comfort zone and try new things. I want to meet locals and talk to them about their experience growing up in Italy and maybe answer some questions that they may have about America. Italy is full of art and culture and I can’t wait to experience it. The part that I am most excited about is the art. Through my art class this year, I have fallen in love with the stories that inspire the artists as well as the art itself. As of right now, sculptures are my favorite medium and I am excited to go to Florence and Rome to see all of these wonderful pieces

This is kind of an odd international topic to write about but I believe it is important. As many of you know, I am an OU Journalism student. Coming into college, I kept trying to find how journalism could aid my love of travel and other cultures and then it dawned on me. Journalism has such a profound effect on International perspective. As a journalist, it is extremely important that I present other cultures with accuracy and truth as I report on different events. To be able to do this, I must know about the different cultures that I am reporting on. This requires proper research and, if available, experience. Knowing that, as a journalist, I could have such a big impact on how people see other cultures keeps me motivated to continue to learn and experience new things. The combination of international experience and journalism will make me an accurate source and I am so blessed that I get to have these experiences so that I can try and bring truth to the world and trust back to the media. I have learned through my recent cultural experiences that I need to experience instead of assume. Even more than just reporting, journalists have a responsibility to show the deeper context when reporting on global issues. Overall, I believe that, for me, it was extremely important to do something where I could make a difference and with journalism, I get to connect my love for other cultures and international experiences with my love for writing and presenting.

I have not joined an International organization on campus yet, but I have two in mind for next year. The first one is OU Cousins. I like the idea of OU Cousins because one of my favorite parts of going abroad has always been meeting people from all over the world. I would love to be a friend to someone who is experiencing a new culture and I would love to learn from them as well. I believe that OU Cousins would be good for me because it would help me learn from others experiences and show them a fun, american college experience. I want to show someone what it means to be SEC, and be involved in Greek Life and everything that OU has to offer. In addition to OU Cousins, I have also been looking into the American Sign Language Club. I have really enjoyed learning about Deaf Culture and I believe that ASL is a language that I could use in my life in the future to communicate with those in the Deaf Culture. I honestly love learning different signs and how to communicate without words. I enjoy communicating with the Deaf Community and learning from them. I also really enjoyed the Deaf Coffee Chat that I attended and I would love to attend more events in the future with the Deaf Community. The Deaf Coffee Chat was an event that I was hesitant to go to then I ended up loving it so I would like to experience more of those through the American Sign Language Club. Those are the two organizations that I am looking into for next semester.

This cultural event was not one that was necessarily associated with OU either. I actually heard of this event from my teacher. I attended a Deaf Coffee Chat. This event was scary because my sign language is honestly not that good. I am about to finish ASL 2, and for the most part, I can understand what is being said, but my signing is not up to par. This event was at a Starbucks off campus and was open to the whole Norman and beyond Deaf community. This event was extremely special to me because I got to see the culture that I have been learning about for two years. I got to practice the habits and behaviors that are expected of me when I am around the Deaf community. This event was encouraging because it showed me the good and the love of people in all different cultures and communities. For example, when I was at this event, there was this one older man who was being extremely patient with us. There were quite a few OU students who were currently learning ASL who attended this event. I stood towards the back and just observed as this man resigned the same word and even fingerspelled it over and over for this one student who was trying to have a conversation with him. At first, I was nervous that he would be annoyed and start signing to someone else, but he was patient and he was kind. He had the biggest smile on his face and it genuinely seemed like he enjoyed helping us learn. This event showed me, once again, that it is extremely important to step out of your comfort zone. Even when it’s scary, I believe that people are for the most part good and they want to help you succeed. This man appreciated the communication and the time that student was taking to learn his culture and understand him. I believe that this world could use a little more patience and understanding and that’s why it is important to go to different cultural events and experience different things, so that you can understand someone else’s perspective in addition to your own.

This semester, I did something fun but honestly a little scary. I had to go to an event of a different religion or culture for my Media Writing and Storytelling class. I have been raised and I identify as a non-denominational Protestant Christian so to go to a church of a different religion was scary. I have seen different religions practiced in different countries and I have met many people of different religions but I had never actually been to a religious service that was not of my religion. I ended up choosing to go to a Catholic Mass. Honestly, I chose Catholic Mass because of how similar the beliefs are. Both my religion and that of the Catholic Mass are based on the same core principles and teachings, but I was shocked how different the service was. The Catholic Church puts an emphasis on tradition that is not present in the non-denominational church. For example, throughout the service there are many different prayers and songs led by the leaders of the church and recited back by the members of the church. I found it interesting and impressive that the members of the church seemed to innately know what to do. Everyone at Mass seemed to know intuitively how to follow all of the traditions and when to respond to the priest or say certain prayers. The members also seemed to know when to sit, stand or kneel. This shows just how strong tradition and loyalty is in the Catholic Church. Many members present looked as though they had been going their whole life. It was impressive and encouraging to see such a united community. This experience showed me just how different two denominations can be. It taught me to never assume that I know something that I don’t. This experience showed me the importance of showing up, participating and getting out of your comfort zone to experience something new. Even though this was not an OU sanctioned event, I believe that it was a good cultural experience that opened my eyes to a religion that was different from my own.