"In the spring of 2015, I left the University of Miami to spend a semester in Cape Town. I knew the experience would be exciting and transformative. What I did not anticipate, however, was that I would return to Cape Town for a second semester through IES Abroad a year later, and stay for an additional eight months, traveling the country while working for a South African non-profit organization. I did not foresee that my time abroad would alter my trajectory so fundamentally that I find myself now applying for graduate study that will bring me back to South Africa in order to continue the community development work that I began during my semesters abroad. I certainly did not expect my experience in Cape Town to kick-start a stand-up comedy career that would lead me to perform for South African audiences throughout the city, explaining the cultural confusion I felt as an American living among them. I struggle to articulate how much study abroad changed everything for me fundamentally, without leaning on clichés, but I can say with sincerity that this experience helped me understand my place in the world, and set me on a new path in pursuit of international human rights work.

In addition to studying environmental science and geography from the point of view of the global South at the University of Cape Town, the internships I found abroad were the most meaningful aspects of my experience; they continue to inform my scholarship and the goals I have for the future. During my first semester in Cape Town, I worked at an NGO called Sonke Gender Justice. My work there was most research based–I looked into the country’s current HIV-prevention and gender equality educational programs in order to identify gaps, and then complied program proposals for the South African Department of Health. This work taught me primarily about the dire state of HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa, but also challenged me to approach this problem from different points of entry than I would have otherwise. For example, the organization often worked with young men, educating them about gender issues in order to target the roots of gender-based violence.

During my second semester in Cape Town, and for three months after my time at the University of Cape Town ended, I interned at Community Media Trust–another HIV-prevention NGO–which used a very different point of entry to tackle South Africa’s health problems. My work with Community Media Trust consisted of writing a forty-week curriculum that taught vulnerable young women life skills, ranging from how to open a bank account, to active listening, to performing a breast self-exam. The girls would meet weekly in clubs–led by a mentor from their communities–to learn these skills. The premise of the program was that when young women have social, economic, and cognitive assets, their likelihood of contracting HIV or becoming pregnant as a teenager is much lower. This work took me all around South Africa to recruit small community-based organizations and implement the curriculum in different communities.

Finally, my year in Cape Town was full of smaller, but equally meaningful interactions with the city and culture that I found myself immersed in. Study abroad creates an opportunity for students to experiment with parts of themselves that they might not feel able to in their everyday lives. Stand-up comedy had always been in the back of my mind as something I would like to try, but never would, because it made me too vulnerable. Living abroad inherently makes you vulnerable–it teaches you to embrace vulnerability. Sometimes, the result of this is discomfort. Sometimes, you find yourself performing for a packed house at Cape Town’s biggest comedy club because you stood up at that first open mic night. Experiences like this are what made study abroad such a meaningful and rich part of my life, and why I chose to return to the same city for a second semester.

Now, five months after leaving Cape Town, as I finish my senior year and apply to graduate school for urban planning, I continue to ask the questions-of others and myself–that were raised by my year in South Africa: How do we approach these huge, global problems, like HIV or gender-based violence, in a new way? What have we not tried? What would I do if I weren’t afraid to feel exposed? How could I live in my own city as though I only had one year to experience it? My education, work, and plans for the future have all become about seeking the answers to these questions, and prompting others to do the same. I could never have anticipated that study abroad would give me this new purpose."

"It was on a golden Viennese evening that I was strolling about Bruno Kreisky Park on my way home to Margaretenstrasse. I reckon it must have been a Friday, for there was an undisturbed sense of peace. In one week along with learning about economics, German, and music, I had become so acquainted with myself that I needed nothing more and no one but my own company under the apricot sky, in that park, in that moment. I sat on the grass, and pulled out my notebook.

Right under my notes about European capital integration I began to write, “Hello, my name is I, and I am glad that we could finally say hi”. This rather simplistic verse was one that gave me such a profound moment when I was writing it that its creation has become of my most intense memories in Vienna. I concluded my journey abroad with an original song and production of “My Name is I”, recorded in the studio of my building in Margaretenstrasse that IES Abroad so generously provided, and with a new appreciation of the beauty and meaning in the “insignificant” moments of our every day lives.

This experience was enabled by IES Abroad's very well organized program that gave me an appropriate but extensive amount of work which enabled me to effectively learn and remember what I was being taught, and that also gave me time, a concept not often found on my agenda: time to understand my surroundings, to interact with others from different countries and states, and to connect with myself. In the following paragraphs I will share how my two top academic experiences inspired the creation of an important goal, featuring my once neglected passion, music.

1. “Shifting Global Dynamics: The Impact of the New Greek Direction toward Russia and China,” this was my final research paper for my European Monetary Union and Financial Integration class; it examined the Greek economy through the country’s history and suggested a possible course should the country go forth with its present negotiations. Many a time, before I went to Vienna, I had heard the story,  “studying abroad is easy”; this was of the most challenging- if not the most challenging, papers that I’ve to write. Greece is a powerful shareholder of my heart, to put it in financial terms. Although I was born in America, I lived in Athens until the age of 14. This class gave me the opportunity to explore Greece’s history like never before. From analyzing why Greece is in economic crisis, to proposing marketing tools for Greece to improve its position, and to my final paper, this class abroad gave me knowledge, and the faith that I can do something to help my struggling second home.

2. “Shot U.S.A”, my first instrumental composition written for piano and violin recorded for my final project in my Sound Recording class. What travelling does is that it helps you realize that every country believes in a truth that might be different from your own, and the acceptance of this ‘truth’ requires great open mindedness. When a topic is reoccurring in a society it ceases to be shocking, and can be in danger of becoming unimportant. The past years America has faced challenges with violent gun incidents, and threats directed at schools including my own (2015 threat toward schools near Philadelphia). Seeing the confused reactions of my Hungarian, Italian, and Viennese friends, I saw how the now almost normalized experiences I undergo in America were unimaginable for those in other countries; and I hope that such incidents in particular will be unimaginable in America as well. I sought to address the topic of gun violence through music; my Sound Recording class in Vienna gave me the opportunity to do so. I collaborated with violinist and fellow IES Abroad peer Natasha Janfaza who was on violin, and another student whom I very much looked up to, Tomal Hossain, who gave me valuable tips for recording. It is important to note that this was my first instrumental recording and the fact that it was in Vienna, in a program where students shared the same appreciation from music and where one could learn from one another made all the difference. I could not have received that encouragement and inspiration anywhere else. I also wrote an accompanying poem which I presented to my class.

I spoke of these two academic achievements because they both have the power to influence, and the combination of them led me to want to begin an initiative of music for a cause. More than an initiative, it will be a music publishing company called Strike, a verb used to signify how music can awaken us to different perspectives. In my Sound Recording class I learned that one does not have to be a politician to instigate change, rather one can influence through the most powerful tool, music; and in my EMU and Financial Integration class I received the knowledge needed to begin a musical work about Greece. I am currently also writing a song with the theme of bullying that I will submit to my high school for its annual play, “The Names that Hurt”. This is the extension of my time in Vienna; the tools I learned there affect my life today.

Today, I can trace all this back to that breezy spring evening at the park near my Viennese apartment. That is where I felt most at ease, and where my passion for music and interest for politics and economics united. Vienna has given me the motivation to explore life every day, and the courage to pursue what I was afraid to before. I hope that someday my music can strike others awake with the passion of Greece, the fierceness of America, and the elegance of Vienna. I will eternally be grateful to IES Abroad for this gift of discovery: of a different culture, and of myself."

"My decision to spend the semester in Buenos Aires was made with a clear goal, to go beyond the casual daily classes and city life of study abroad and expand my knowledge through as much cultural engagement as possible. I wanted an academic experience that would take me to places where I could learn first hand about social issues within the country. My semester abroad allowed me to travel to places that I never could have experienced without the determination of a global citizen to experience and learn from another culture. Through these experiences I gained a more in depth and rewarding semester by leaving my comfort zone to pursue new projects and create a cross-cultural exchange of dialogue.

During my semester abroad in Buenos Aires, I chose to participate in the service-learning program through IES Abroad and was paired with an organization called Pilares. This organization works with impoverished communities within the villas of Buenos Aires by organizing several programs that focus on assistance with the families through education and skill building. I chose to volunteer with the education program as a means of improving my Spanish speaking abilities. The education program involved traveling into the villas to work with other volunteers teaching classes and helping with every day activities. Although my initial motivation was to improve my own language skills and provide a community service, I quickly discovered the kinds of applications the education program provided to improve myself as a global citizen.

I started my volunteering about three weeks into my study abroad program, up until then I had only met other Argentines in my neighborhood. Working at the Pilares center was a completely new and drastically different experience. The kids I worked with were full of energy and had an incredible curiosity about who I was. I spent the first two weeks helping the volunteers serve breakfast and lunch while assisting with classes in between. During this period we also spent a great deal of time feeding the curiosity of the kids by answering questions about the USA and our own lives back home. In doing so we created a cross-cultural dialogue with the kids as well as volunteers who were eager to tell us about their experiences if we would share our own in return.

Another IES Abroad student and myself were soon approached by one of the organizers of Pilares and the education program with the idea of starting an English tutoring program at the center. Both myself and the other IES Abroad student were in charge of creating the curriculum and working with the kids with the intent to increase their interest in and display the benefits of learning a popular language such as English. The organizer explained to us that the kids we worked with were already at a disadvantage due to their circumstances of living in the villas. However, the ability to speak, read, and write in English would greatly increase their opportunities for the future. The organizer asked us to create a program that could be continuously taught by new volunteers after we finished our semesters abroad. We spent the next three months testing different methods of teaching English while working with small groups of kids. By the end of our semester we successfully developed a basic English tutoring program for the organization. Since then we have continued to communicate with organizers at Pilares via email to improve the English program and prepare new volunteers who will be teaching the curriculum in the upcoming semester.

Having such a unique opportunity to work with an organization like Pilares really exemplifies the importance and qualities of being a global citizen. By working with Pilares I was able to enter into a community outside of the normal study abroad experience. I was able to create and maintain a series of cross-cultural dialogue with kids and volunteers of the program to increase my own knowledge of a culture and simultaneously teach about my own culture. To further enhance dialogue between communities I worked with another to student to create social network mapping for Pilares to help connect people from different communities around the world and share the Pilares mission and activities. Ultimately I learned to conduct myself independently to develop and take responsibility for a program that was capable of making an impact on a community. It has motivated me to continue my pursuit of understanding cultures and making global connections through language by applying to other intensive language learning programs as well as volunteering with local community based organizations in Los Angeles.

To further enhance my knowledge as a global citizen I wanted to find more ways to engage with the history and indigenous culture of my host country. Having lived in Buenos Aires all semester, my understanding was that Argentina existed as a harmonious culture with Buenos Aires at the center. Professors at the university and even other Argentines living in Buenos Aires previously explained to me that the Patagonia region was mostly for tourism and historically the rights of indigenous people was rarely compromised. This could not have been farther from the truth. By taking the Making of Patagonia class I was able to widen my circle of research on the history of Argentina and learned about the oppression of indigenous culture. I was motivated by the in class readings and lectures to travel to several locations in the Patagonia region with a few other students to visit museums and explore national parks inhabited by remnants of native communities. This experience forced me to ask more questions about how indigenous communities actually perceive the concept of "Patagonia" and what can be done to preserve their culture.

Part of this course involved a field study to Bariloche, a city in the Rio Negro province of Patagonia. During this excursion we were given the unique opportunity to meet with several members of the Mapuche community, an indigenous group of people living in the area of Bariloche. Our dialogue with the members of the community prompted questions about Patagonia and the survival of Mapuche culture in the midst of the increasing tourism of the city. During our dialogue we arrived at key conclusions that completely contradicted the Buenos Aires perceptions of Patagonia. To the Mapuche, the rise of tourism is seen as the "second conquest of the desert". Increased tourism has split the community, forcing them into impoverished areas and increasing the cost of living tremendously. Even more so, when asked about what Patagonia means to the Mapuche, they explained that 'Patagonia' was named by European explorers and is non-existent in their culture.

Upon returning to Buenos Aires, I was surprised to learn that few people perceived the Patagonia region the same way as the indigenous people. However, I began to understand that this is a differing perception that exists between many communities around the world and is something that needs to be met by global citizens who can understand multiple points of view. Being a global citizen requires reaching out to explore multiple perspectives from different communities. In doing so, cultures and customs can be better preserved by disseminating new knowledge and ideas to your own community. Ultimately, I know now that I can actively engage myself with different points of view to better understand a culture or community and in turn apply myself to make the world a better place for all communities."

"Cape Town, South Africa, is a place full of beauty and brokenness, of wealth and poverty, of injustice and the fight towards justice. It is the place that gave me a life altering experience. My name is John Luke Hawkins and my time studying abroad was not that of the typical abroad experience. I had the expectations that I would have a full semester of classes, immerse myself in culture, make South African friends, grow and learn, and have the adventure of a lifetime. In the end, all of that did happen to different extents, but what couldn’t have been predicated, what couldn’t have been foreseen, was a month long shutdown of classes due to protests happening across universities in South Africa. This was a movement of activism that I became swept into as an ally: a person whom knew my place as an American abroad student yet supported the fight for justice that was happening in my context.

This journey began at the start of the semester as I instantaneously saw the lingering effects of colonization and apartheid in South Africa through the wealth verses poverty in Cape Town, the racial segregation and oppression that still existed, and the culture of progression towards equality. Another jumpstart in my journey was taking a sociology class offered at the University of Cape Town called Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality as it completely made me think in a new perspective. This class as well as all the injustice that was happening around me made me for the first time think of my own privilege as a white male. Previously, my worlds, which I realized are predominately white, middle class, heterosexual, and Christian didn’t make me think about what my privilege meant because truthfully, it didn’t affect me as a white male in the context of my worlds. But being in South Africa and taking this sociology class made me ask myself “Who am I and what does my privilege mean?” I started to understand that due to my race, my class, my biological sex, my faith, and my nationality as an American – I held extreme privilege in society. I reflected on what that meant and if I was potentially abusing my privileged place of power.

Just as I was deep into having a new revelation daily about my privilege and the privilege of those around me, protests began. At the University of Cape Town, there were many demands, but the overarching theme was for a fight for a free decolonized education. With this history of colonization and apartheid in South Africa, poverty is highly correlated with race. Since education is key in finding a job and acquiring a comfortable life, the raising fees at the South African universities negatively affect the people from the black communities. Thus the fight for a free education is to remove some obstacles for people of color. In terms of the demand of a decolonized education, it was a movement to return the countries to its roots, to change the euro-centered education to an Afro-centered education. When the Dutch came in and colonized South Africa, white supremacy became very much a part of South African history and education. Thus the demand was to take back some culture that had been overridden through colonization.

For me, personally, I supported the movement in terms of a fight for justice and equality. Yet at first, I did struggle to know if supported the concept of a free education, and even if that concept was possible. In the spirit of immersing myself fully in the culture, I got involved. I read some information on the possibility of free education. I talked to numerous students and citizens about the concept. I eventually came to fully back the fight for a free decolonized education. Throughout the process, I made myself an ally; I knew this fight wasn’t really my personal fight, as I was an American abroad student that would be leaving South Africa in a short couple of months. In understanding the importance of being safe and recognizing that as an white American male, it would be an abuse of my privilege to put myself out there too much, I became an ally. I stayed educated and up to date with what was going on in the protests by going to the public meetings and daily checking twitter and other news sources to understand what was happening from all sides of the aisles. I continuously had conversations about these movements and activism with people, and depending on the person, it was either an opportunity for me to learn more or teach someone what I had been learning. I helped provide food for some of the protesters in order to sustain them during that tiring time. I marched a few times with the protesters to show my support by providing a body, or a number, in the movement. I now proudly say “fees must fall,” not because it gave me a month off of school, but because it is a movement for justice, and I, I stand for justice.

This activism in South Africa wasn’t just a one and done type of situation; when I say my abroad experience was life altering, it was just that. This mentality of activism towards justice, of equality no matter your race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, faith and so forth is something that I am continuing to carry through. Each day, I wake up and look at the world through this new social justice lens and try to make sure I am not abusing my privilege as well as being a healthy and constructive voice in these social movements. On my college campus, I am currently the “Hope College Interfaith Ambassador” which deals with striving to make Hope College, a Christian liberal arts school, a safe place and a place of inclusion for people of all faith/philosophical backgrounds. These new cultural and worldly perspectives gathered from my abroad experience will forever go forth with me in life.

Truthfully, would my involvement made much of a difference in terms of success or failure for the protests? No. But I did have a choice, a choice whether I wanted spend the shutdown like it was a vacation or to immerse myself in what was happening around me. I choose the later. And by doing this, I grew to become more culturally competent and have a bigger heart for justice that will and already has carried through into my return to the United States. My role with activism may have been small in terms of the effect for South Africa, but for me, it released a longing for justice inside like a planted and growing seed, that through my actions, can be planted in others and have those seeds grow as well, so that we, as a society, as people, can yield a beautiful crop of justice and equality."

"In my first year of college I learned about the concept of histories and deconstruct the hegemonic narrative in which most of history has been taught. The first time this was introduced to me was in my Education for Social Change class which was followed by reading Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. This was the first time a professor questioned what I had been learning in school and asked me to do the same. That was the landmark shift in my view of education and in my desire to learn about counter-pedagogy and deconstruct it through an Africana Studies lens. At that time I realized I needed to study abroad in the African Diaspora.

My time studying abroad was the epitome of experiential education because the only way to truly learn is to be immersed in history and people and to challenge history one experience at a time. Not only did I study in South Africa once, but twice, and the second time I had a new vigor for the reason I was going. Studying abroad allowed me to confront what I have learned and to look at things with a sense of skepticism that allows for critical thinking. South Africa’s past is so complex and their recent path of forgiveness and reconciliation is a noble feat that relies on multiple histories in order to create a fondness for the complexities in their diverse people.

Citizenship is based loosely on intersectionalities and privileges that remain untouched by those with an advantage and become unsurmountable by those who are subjugated. Global citizenship regards that silence as oppression and routinely challenges the discourse by which people have become accustomed. Studying abroad challenges the theory of normality and student who study abroad in South Africa are shocked with a country with eleven official languages and more diversity and cultures than most countries.

My first semester abroad with SIT in Spring 2015, I was in Durban studying social and political transformation and completing an independent study project. I participated in an internship and study project with PeacePlayers International, a nonprofit organization, in Durban observing the effectiveness of the program from three different aspects. I focused on a case study at one high school and looked at aspirations, mentorship, and leadership in students participating in the program and compared the results to students who were not. My mentor in this project was a Gettysburg alumnus who I had been put in touch with through our study abroad office at school. This unique opportunity to see the inner workings of an international non-governmental organization was invaluable and, without the opportunity to participate directly with this organization and their students, I would have never been able to gather my data and utilize to evaluate program’s impact. Studying in Durban and focusing specifically on social transformation allowed for my research project to identify the unique role that basketball plays in the lives of these students.

On my return from Durban, I joined the Global Leaders of Gettysburg College (GLGC) and shared my experiences abroad with other students and presented to first year classes about global education and my experiences in South Africa. This GLGC also allows for students who studied all across the globe to come together and discuss ‘global citizenship’ and the active nature of such an endeavor. Routinely I encourage students to go abroad and through my enrollment in the Garthwait Leadership Certificate at Gettysburg I am setting up a Study Abroad Symposium targeting first and second year students to talk with study abroad alumni and our international students about possibilities for experiential learning, focusing specifically on non-traditional areas. Not only am I trying to empower students to travel and see more of the world but I also encourage them to look outside the scope of media and question the stories people have heard. It is vital for students not only to study somewhere other than their home institution but also to be able to utilize it when they come back to school.

My semester at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in Spring of 2016 was a unique opportunity to engage in academic and social discourses which IES Abroad facilitated. Studying abroad twice does not make one a global citizen, but it introduces a way of thinking that breeds a certain level of awareness about the importance of the increasing globalization, especially through technology. The unique part of studying at such a prestigious research institution, was the availability of sources that were missing or inaccessible my Western education databases. The difference in sources and scholars that provide multiple viewpoints challenge the hegemonic narrative that is enforced in Western education and further indicate the weaknesses in global education. However, despite these disconnects I have shared new sources with classmates and professors in order to introduce interacting scholarship. Availability of non-traditional sources is minimal and even less is prevalent regarding South African history.

At UCT I utilized my passion for education in the South African setting to join the Equal Education Society, Disrupting Whiteness Talks, Investment Society, and joined different conversations relating to student activism and unrest regarding both fees and student sexual assault. Not only did IES Abroad encourage joining societies on the campus but the conversations that I had with people in these societies and within my residential hall discussed modes of change. At my residence I made friends with most of the people in both sides of the halls and encouraged the other IES Abroad students to do the same. Because of this, we had the first farewell party to IES Abroad students since 1994, a truly touching moment. My time at UCT was made by the people that I met through the program, my residential hall, and through classes on campus. Without the oversaturation of American prominence, I was able to focus on engaging in discourse and to redefine the purpose of why I was here in each conversation.

The penultimate aspect of my semester at UCT occurred on the flight home when I met a woman whose husband, a founder of mElimu, was working with mobile learning in Kenya and was looking for an intern. The company is a growing social enterprise focused on mobile education and e-Learning technology called mElimu. mElimu is an innovative solution to improve access to quality education with technology driven efficiency based out of India and currently focusing on Sub-Saharan and Eastern Africa. I created a business development internship with mElimu detailing specifications and responsibilities and have now been interning with them for five months. Working on different projects and trying to expand relationships with new companies and people has been the crux of my position. I have worked on a myriad of deals creating spreadsheets, writing letters, methodologies, reaching out to partners, and creating detailed information briefs for potential clients. Most recently I created four scripts that we are putting into production for mElimu campaigns.

For my senior thesis I am looking at the youth bulge in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically focusing on South Africa and identifying mobile education and e-learning as one solution to low education levels. I am intertwining my time at UCT and the FeesMustFall Movement that I have seen firsthand and my experience with my current internship that creates a university-in-a-box solution for both learners and teachers. For me this culmination of my undergraduate experience is the perfect example of a global education because it started with one professor who taught me that there is more than one history, and I went out to find out what he meant. Then I studied in Durban and Cape Town where I learned through professors, historic sources, personal experiences, and through the beautiful people around me. Finally, I am working with people who value education in Sub-Saharan Africa and I am further exploring the impact such organizations could have on South Africa. I am writing from the Motherland, a coffee shop in Cape Town, and I have every intention of coming back."