I'm also working with the English Language Training Institute's (ELTI) program called Conversation Partners to help my school's international students feel more welcomed while helping them practice their English comprehension and speaking skills. I understand the challenges of making friends with natives abroad; it was difficult finding French friends who had the patience to understand your broken (but improving) French. All I wanted were non-American friends to practice my French with. Upon coming back, I made it a personal goal to help international students at my own university improve their target language skills, plus it's fun getting to know people from other parts of the world. |
This semester, I'm working with my university's Education Abroad Office as a peer advisor to inspire others to go beyond their comfort zone, challenging the uncertainty, and study abroad. Being a Scholarship Recipient as well as a Peer Advisor is a meaningful way to reach out to students who, like my past self, thought it'd be impossible to study abroad. I am living proof that it is possible, no matter how many obstacles were in the way. At the same time, it also provides an audience who I can endlessly recount my unforgettable memories abroad to. I wish more students knew how beneficial studying abroad was, and how it's completely possible it is to apply and go!
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«Traveling -- it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.» - Ibn Battuta