Being a student at Florida International University (FIU), it is fairly easy to interact with people from many cultures around the world. The student body at FIU is not only very diverse, but also international. FIU’s team approach to learning provides many opportunities for interaction with peers from these different backgrounds. While studying Chemistry, Marketing and Japanese, I have been exposed to people from all over the world wanting to be doctors, researchers, businesspeople, and teachers. As part of being in the same classroom with them, I have been able to exchange ideas, discuss matters, and find solutions to problems together as a team. Every culture has a different approach when looking at a situation. The way we think and learn varies for each person and even more so among cultures. Working with people from these various backgrounds, has given me an understanding on their perspective, which has resulted in developing a global perspective when approaching issues whether they are in academic research, geo-political controversies, cultural understanding, and many others.
What I find interesting about having developed a global perspective through my time at FIU, is that there are some things that we can all find in common with one another. At the end of the day, we are all human and we share many of the same feelings. I can recall a specific instance where I could empathize with people from other cultures based on issues around the world. In Fall 2017, I was the Vice-President of the Japan Club at FIU, and as part of my club’s responsibilities, we had to attend workshops for the Council for Student Organizations (CSO), who helps manage and fund our club. One of the workshops I attended was on the power of protest. Many culture clubs were in attendance, and the questions we discussed revolved around our opinions as club officers and students on protest and our willingness to voice our opinions. A large part of what I learned through that workshop was that students from countries experiencing political and social unrest felt hindered in using their voice out of fear of being in a strange land with a political infrastructure that was portrayed as wanting to root out foreigners from those types of countries. From this discussion, I was able to take away how global awareness can bridge misunderstandings and bring people together.
One of the many opportunities I have had at FIU to increase my global exposure was when I was fortunate enough to win the Gilman scholarship and be accepted into an FIU study abroad program in Kyoto, Japan. There, I studied Japanese as one of my GL courses at Ritsumeikan University, a top university in Japan. While attending the university, I was able to meet Japanese students, who had volunteered to help foreigners in a study abroad program at the university get socially acquainted with their culture. While the context of our interactions was to get to know each other and engage in the Japanese language, I found that forming bonds with the students over the course of the program helped us understand each other’s cultures much better. They showed us how the Japanese live, work, and think, while we showed them specifically how people from Miami behave, interact, and think. I also got to spend quite some time with other participants in the program from universities around the world. Whenever we ran into any issues, whether it was related to language, culture, lifestyle, etc., we were eventually able to help each other through it.
Creating this intercultural exchange helped us eliminate certain tensions and stereotypes about each other’s cultures, and overall, helped me become globally engaged.
The main reason I wanted to study abroad in Japan was to get a good grasp of what life is like there— what it feels like, and even smells like. That is because after I graduate, I intend to apply for the Japan Exchange Teaching (JET) Program, where I will have the opportunity to teach English to Japanese students. By living and working in Japan, I will be able to understand the Japanese culture and customs like a native. In other words, I will be on my way to becoming a global citizen. I am committed to expanding my global awareness, perspective and engagement by continuing to look for teaching opportunities in English and Chemistry in other countries, as well.
The Center for Leadership and Service at FIU has outlined various skills that they feel students involved in leadership should have. During my time at FIU, and through my involvement in different aspects of campus service and academics, I have had the opportunity to work on and develop many of these skills. I want to highlight some of these skills below.
Strategic planning is one of the skills I feel I have become highly competent in. Many of my classes, especially the ones required for the Social Media and E-Marketing Analytics minor I am pursuing, are based on group projects. In all of the projects I was involved with, I took the leadership role in planning the strategy and allocating the resources we had available. I discussed a clear direction for the project with the other members of the team and we were rewarded with an A in all of them.
As part of being a group leader, I took responsibility for keeping a positive, balanced, efficient group dynamic. I asked each member to choose an area of the project that they felt more confident to work on, assigned deadlines, and offered support in completing their assignments, if needed. This resulted in a very efficient and pleasant group interaction. Every member received credit for their contribution and felt that they were a valuable part of the team.
Communication within a group, in my opinion, is the basis for success. All of my Marketing classes were online, and completing a group project online is probably one of the most challenging tasks anyone can undertake. Not being able to meet in person to work together on a project, keeping track of the progress, and clearing any misunderstandings or confusions requires clear, direct, and extensive communication skills. Keeping everyone engaged, without detracting from the positive involvement of the group members, was a challenge; though it was a very rewarding experience when the task was finally completed.
The conditions and challenges that FIU’s global learning courses present prepare any student to excel in the professional world. The variety of opportunities provided and the melting pot of cultures represented at FIU are one of a kind. I am proud to be an FIU Panther, and most of all, proud to be a Global Learning Medallion Recipient!