Blog by Shau­niece Dray­ton, UW Both­ell Com­mu­nity Psy­chol­ogy Major, Study Abroad–Rome

My name is Shau­niece Dray­ton, a sopho­more major­ing in Com­mu­nity Psy­chol­ogy and pos­si­bly Global Stud­ies at UW Both­ell.  I have always dreamt of trav­el­ing to Europe and expe­ri­enc­ing the peo­ple, cul­ture, and foods.  When the oppor­tu­nity arose to par­tic­i­pate in the Rome cultural-enrichment trip, I imme­di­ately said yes.  Like many stu­dents who con­sider such adven­ture, I was in shock that I would leave the com­fort of my home and go abroad to study. I was wor­ried about the cost.  How would I afford the trip?  How would I man­age my way around a strange coun­try with­out know­ing the lan­guage? How would it feel to be so far from home?  Would I be able to plug in my hair dryer?  I felt excited and ner­vous all at the same time, espe­cially when the depar­ture date crept closer.

In hind­sight, these wor­ries seemed silly because those were not the things that I remem­ber the most.  The Rome study abroad pro­gram pro­vided me an oppor­tu­nity to engage with other UW stu­dents (Seat­tle, Tacoma) and for­eign stu­dents about their col­lege expe­ri­ences, hopes and dreams.  I had an oppor­tu­nity to tour the Colos­seum and feel the his­tory of the place. Our group also toured St. Peter’s Church.  We learned about the forum and the 7 hills of Rome, I even threw a coin into the Trevi Foun­tain!  These are just a few mem­o­ries that will be for­ever engraved in my mind.  I am also grate­ful for the unex­pected friend­ships built over the two-week period and how they have helped me think about my out­look on life and education. 

We had class every day of the trip with the excep­tion of one day—freedom in Rome!!!  I remem­bered being tired because of the lack of sleep from the night before; but regard­less of how tired I was, I woke up full of excite­ment and ready for the day ahead.  I looked for­ward to learn­ing new Ital­ian words, inter­act­ing with the local peo­ple, and explor­ing every cor­ner of the city.  Hav­ing time away from home free of typ­i­cal dis­trac­tions, I had time to reflect on my edu­ca­tion at Both­ell.  Prior to my Rome expe­ri­ence, decid­ing on a major was all about employ­ment prospects after col­lege.  My study-abroad expe­ri­ence gave me the oppor­tu­nity to slow down and see the world through a new lens.  I am sur­rounded by an amaz­ing world and I am just now begin­ning to dis­cover it.  When we step out­side of our daily lives, we real­ize our world is much big­ger than Wash­ing­ton State and, for that mat­ter, Amer­ica.  I gained so much knowl­edge on world his­tory that affected me in a way that went beyond class­room lec­tures and text­books.  I began to make con­nec­tions and under­stand how world his­tory had greatly influ­enced Amer­i­can cul­ture and our way of life.  For­eign travel not only taught me about other cul­tures and their peo­ple, but I learned some­thing about myself and how I engage oth­ers in dia­logue about their back­grounds and traditions.

The time spent in Rome gave me an oppor­tu­nity to dis­cover who I am and to see myself in a dif­fer­ent con­text.  I feel as though I dis­cov­ered myself, defined my inter­ests, and started to shape who I am.  This would not have been pos­si­ble if I had not taken a chance and left the com­forts of my home.  I strongly feel my study abroad expe­ri­ence enhanced my edu­ca­tion at UW Both­ell.  It inspired me to look at higher edu­ca­tion dif­fer­ently. I still have so much more of the world to explore.  Estab­lish­ing a sub­stan­tial career after earn­ing my degree is impor­tant, but tak­ing time to explore the world is equally meaningful.   

I don’t believe where you choose to study abroad is crit­i­cal. It’s more about hav­ing the global expe­ri­ence from trav­el­ing abroad that will change your way of think­ing, learn­ing as well as your out­look on life.  It really gives you a bet­ter per­spec­tive of the United States from abroad.  I am so happy that I took a chance and let go of any reser­va­tions in order to explore the world out­side of today’s West­ern soci­ety.  Study­ing abroad was one of the best edu­ca­tional and per­sonal expe­ri­ences of my life, and I would def­i­nitely do it all over again.  It’s a life-changing expe­ri­ence that will for­ever be a part of my edu­ca­tion at UW Bothell. 

 –Shauniece