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meraimondi@scu.edu Megan Raimondi '07Peer AdvisorReflections on my Study Abroad Experience My time at Santa Clara has been vital in the growth of my mind throughout the last years. My time spent abroad, though, has been life changing. Not only was my mind pushed to limits, but my heart was pushed to limits, as well. I was able to experience a kind of life that I have only imagined in the farthest corners of the world, and not only did I experience it, but I completely fell in love with the people who have no choice but to live it every day. The students in the Casa program spend two days each week in a marginalized community doing praxis work- learning through experience and reflection with the people of the community. On the Santa Clara campus, we feel so far from the realities of developing nations that we are often able to convince ourselves they are not our problem because they are not our immediate reality. In my time abroad, I came to realize that I cannot live like that. In seeing the faces of the “Third World”, holding the hands of the children dying because of malnourishment and lack of love, and living in the heart of the statistics of poverty and death, I realized that we are all in this together. We cannot ignore the rest of the world because of where we were lucky enough to be born. How can we know of the thousands of children dying each day and not do anything about it? Studying abroad, no matter where you go, changes you and makes you a better person. It allows you to become more independent and more understanding of the huge world surrounding us. It also helps you to find your place in that world. My experience has forever changed me, and without it, I wouldn’t be who I am today, nor would I look at the world in the way that I do. I have seen a reality that is so close, yet we are somehow able to push it so far away. The last four months of my life have redirected me, taught me the joy of raw happiness, and allowed me to see the world through new eyes. Everyone deserves the change to have an experience such as this, but without knowing of the possibilities, they might let it slip through their hands. My eyes and my heart have been opened, and I want to aid others in finding the opportunity to do the same. |
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