EGEE 299/EMSC 299
Foreign Studies

Journal Entry #6

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Welcome back!

Address the numbered prompts below:

General Reflection

  1. Did you learn what you were hoping/expecting to learn? Please elaborate.
  2. What surprised you during this experience? Include your observations, attitude shifts, newly gained knowledge, etc.
  3. In your first journal post, you discussed your apprehensions about this experience. Were you able to overcome them or come to some form of reconciliation? If so, how?
  4. Knowing what you know now, how would you tell another student to prepare themselves to get the most out of a similar experience?
  5. Discuss some of the differences/similarities across cultures, and how the U.S. is perceived abroad.

Growth Areas: Personal Growth and Professional Development

Note: The five Growth Areas are summarized on the Personal Growth Areas page in the Overview and Introductions module. Please review the section on personal growth and professional development and then answer the following questions.

  1. Discuss how the experience with TGP has helped you (or not) clarify your personal goals, values, work style, and career goals.

  2. Reflect upon and discuss situations when you felt uncomfortable, ill-prepared, or out of your element on this trip. Also, include examples of when you felt confident or knowledgeable. Why did you feel that way?

    Example: While discussing the community’s concerns it became apparent that the community members have come to think of their situation as an “us vs. them” scenario, and they clearly viewed me and my classmates as “them.” This made me uncomfortable because the tension in the air at that point was palpable and I felt like I was being blamed for the situation. While I don’t live in the community and can’t begin to fully understand their frustrations, I can empathize with their situation and want to help. While I have a lot of experience in the sanitation field, because of my internship last summer, I don’t have a good understanding of the unique challenges of this geographic region and its people. I am confident we can learn more, but it isn’t yet clear how we can improve the situation.

Academic Learning

  1. Discuss how you plan to utilize/act on what you’ve learned and experienced in this program. Also consider:
  2. How will you justify these actions to others “back home”, in your home town?
  3. What are the potential challenges that might prevent you from implementing your ideas/ applying your plan “back home”?
  4. How were you able to connect your prior knowledge and experiences to what you learned on the trip?
  5. How can what you’ve witnessed or learned about be applied to a new situation or geographic location, new scenarios (geographic or other), or “back home?" What might applying this knowledge or practices look like in the new setting? What are some contributing factors that might make this successful (or not) in the new setting? What new questions should be asked or perspectives considered?