Becoming more world-aware

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I leave for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to study development economics. I’m looking forward to the experience but I’m nervous because I’ve never done anything like it before.

I wanted to study abroad for a few reasons. For one, I’ve had very little experience internationally. I’ve gone on two short vacations outside of the United States, but other than that, my worldview is a bit limited so I wanted to change that. Additionally, I thought studying development economics in a country that is actually developing would be better than just studying it in a regular classroom at Northeastern. This way, I can see development economics in action.

Hopefully, through this Dialogue, I will see more of the world and learn a lot about this specific place. I really don’t know much about the Dominican Republic, so I hope to learn more about its culture, history, and people. I hope I will expand my worldview and gain a new perspective on things.

One of my goals, like I mentioned, is to learn more about the Dominican Republic and become more world-aware. I think I can achieve this by taking all the opportunities given to me to explore Santo Domingo and the surrounding areas, trying the local food, going to local museums and events, and meeting local people. In addition, I’m more on the shy side, so one of my goals is to get out of my comfort zone and be more outgoing. This will be necessary since I’ll be in a foreign country where I really don’t know anyone. To achieve this, I’ll try to be friendly to everyone and put myself out there.

I’m slightly worried about going to the Dominican Republic because I don’t speak any Spanish! This will probably pose a bit of a problem for me at times, but hopefully there are other people who are also on this Dialogue I can stick around with who speak Spanish and can help me out.

I’m most looking forward to having a fun time, as cliche as that sounds. I can’t wait to meet new people, go to the beautiful beaches, and explore a country I have never been to before.