Final Reflections
General Reflection
Make a list of the 5 most valuable skills you gained while studying abroad. For each skill, provide a specific example from your study abroad experience.
Organization/Planning- Ren and I organized a trip to Ireland before we left for study abroad. This took a whole day, from 12pm-10pm and bits of planning before and afterwards. Although we didn’t end up going through with half of the trip, the planning portion prepared me for how much goes into planning anything in the future.
Intercultural competence- staying aware of my volume, what I speak of, and how I represent my group (because it doesn’t matter where you go, a big school group is annoying to almost everyone). This was especially important on public transport where I noticed a lot of our crowd got out of hand frequently.
Problem solving- getting a little misplaced using public transport to the airport from Munich, we trusted our gut instincts and realized we weren’t going where we needed to go and got off the train prematurely. That was the right move and we had to navigate what train we were supposed to be on in a timely manner to make our flight.
Confidence- being alone when traveling you have to be assertive and get done what needs to be done on your own. Sometimes I didn’t have a group, and I had to be confident enough to order food, ask questions, or mingle with people. This was more challenging in Munich where there was a language barrier. This experience has given me a new sense of confidence to get out there, even when I’m back in the states.
Stress management- There were a lot of personal stressors that came up during this trip. I got sick, I broke up with my boyfriend, my uncle had open heart surgery, and my friend left early on our trip by ourselves. During these times I prioritized my comfort. Since it felt like everything was falling apart, I needed to cherish those moments of feeling okay. Navigating most of this on my own was scary, but I know that it prepared me to deal with stress in the future.
How does it feel to be back? Set a timer for 2 minutes and list as many words as you can in that time.
Disappointing, overwhelming, exciting, sad, longing, empowering, enlightening, terrifying, eye-opening, lonely, reminiscent, safe, uncertain, loved,
Name three things that you miss most about your England and/or Germany. What can you do to stay connected to the things you listed?
I miss the wonderful people I made such great relationships with. I can stay connected with my peers via social media and make an effort to see them on campus or off-campus, even. I also miss the freedom that I had, along with the easy access to anything and everything. In order to stay connected with this aspect of the trip I can push myself out of comfort zone to do things on my own and freely. I can also go to places more often that have very easy accessibility.
Design Thinking Reflection
Using specifics from class and/or personal observations from Harlaxton, London and Munich, briefly explain how Design Thinking can contribute to identifying and/or addressing issues of sustainability.
Design Thinking contributes a framework for creators to utilize to address issues within any given system. Using this framework, people have been able to solve problems everywhere in the world, and we saw this in London. The Thames River had not always been as clean as it is now. Health issues in London resulted in discovery and framing of the issue, eventually ideas were generated and the possibilities narrowed to the soundest solution. Now, the river is much cleaner and accessible to the public because of this process of addressing the design/use of the river.
Using specifics from class and/or personal observations, identify and discuss 2-3 innovations which could be reused, applied, or developed to improve sustainability in the US. Include photos or sketches if possible. Innovations might include products (MAKE), transportation (GO), food (EAT), or infrastructure (LIVE) that could be re-designed, reduced, or reused to eliminate waste or improve performance.
The concept of London's transport system has been so well developed for so long that it would makes sense to develop a system similar to it in the US. The accessibility of public transportation is so useful. Also, the clear and concise signage makes it very user-friendly. This is a very sustainable way of life because it reduces the amount of CO2 emitted by reducing personal car usage. Another innovation I think would increase sustainabilty on the US tremendously is co-housing. The sharing of inside and outside spaces reduces the amount of space that any one individual/family owns as their own. This is sustainable because not as many resources are being consumed due to smaller areas to personally maintain, and sharing means buying less which means producing less.
Environmental History Reflection
How did the excursions in London and Munich connect to or expand on our core class work from Harlaxton?
Discuss 2-3 examples, using specifics from class material as well as from the excursions.
The excursions in London and Munich brought home the information we consumed regarding historical urban design and how sustainable it is/can be. The excursion to the embankment was impactful in the sense that it connected class material to real life very well. We had talked about in class how there was much more space to build areas for the public after building the embankment, including greenspaces. We got to see the greenspaces firsthand that were able to be constructed due to the embankment. In addition, we got to see the connection between Charles Booth's map of London and what it looks like in person. It was clear from the map that the housing was built so that street-facing buildings are nicer than the ones in the back, and even the front vs. the back of one building. It was really interesting to see this in real life just walking through the big housing areas in London.
