Study Abroad: International Institutions
Experience #1: For my first honors experience, I went on a 10-day study abroad tour in Belgium and the Netherlands! During the course, I focused on writing a final paper about U.S. consular protection laws and how they change based on cases the International Court of Justice has ruled on!
Coming into college, I was convinced that a future in politics and the government was where my life was headed, specifically immigration law - it's one of the reasons I chose to join Mock Trial my first year. However, as I worked on balancing various aspects of my life, I got lost in the college of business and started to lose sight of why I was initially interested in having a political career at all.
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Getting to go to Europe and hearing speakers at places like the Peace Palace, NATO Shape, and the International Criminal Court made me realize why I was passionate about politics and immigration law in the first place. It helped me revisit a part of myself that I felt was temporarily lost. I also faced a lot of culture shocks and differences in everyday norms that opened my eyes to the way I was living my life, and it started motivating me to live a healthier lifestyle that would help me feel stronger and more productive.
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I met a lot of truly amazing people in the group that we traveled with, which made me want to branch out and find new people to meet and talk to as well, especially since the majority were not in the same college as me. Every aspect of this experience was so enriching, and I am definitely going to be studying abroad more in the future!
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Check out my travel vlog here!: Belgium & The Netherlands