However, I am planning to study abroad in Strasbourg, France in the Fall and I thought it would be interesting to capture everything about the application process and my journey leading up to that plane ride across the Atlantic. Hence the name of my blog, as I am currently a sophomore studying public policy and...(fill in the blank here) at Syracuse University and I will soon be placed into a completely foreign environment in Strasbourg.
Foreign is of course a relative word but believe me, in my case I use it in its most extreme interpretation. I don't speak a lick of French. Beyond "bonjour" and Muzzy's noble infomercial teachings of how to say "I am a little girl" in French when I was a kid, I am completely illiterate in the French language. Am I scared to go to a foreign country and live with a host family, being immediately immersed into a culture where I can't speak a single word or phrase of the language? In fewer words: yes. Some people would dismiss the thought of studying abroad right there. But the question I continue to ask myself, and the reason I have decided to go is: Will I grow as a person as I experience a culture that is new and foreign to me, a language that will be challenging to impossible at times to understand, and an environment that is neither going to be comfortable or enjoyable all of the time. The answer to all parts of that question is yes.
That is my decision to go.
In the meantime, I'll muse over my life here at Syracuse. I've really enjoyed my time here thus far; I've surely grown as a person academically, but more importantly I've grown as a person socially. I've found incredible organizations such as Alpha Phi Omega, Habitat for Humanity, Relay for Life, and First Year Players that have allowed me to befriend others with similar interests and establish an incredible group of friends that blow me away with their involvement and subsequently motivate me to work even harder.
Alpha Phi Omega has been my primary focus since I returned to campus last Sunday. I'm Vice President of Service this semester and thus charged with the task of coordinating every service project that our 100+ active brotherhood will participate in this semester. I've received help from some of those aforementioned incredible friends and would be unable to do anything without them. A couple projects we have lined up this semester is a "Knitting for the Kneedy" project where the brothers (we are co-ed and call both boys and girls "brothers") will get together every week to knit scarves and other winter garments for children of the large refugee population that is very unique to Syracuse. We're also working on a bone marrow drive that will possibly be a collaboration with Relay for Life, a Merit Badge Day for local Boy Scout troops around the area to take classes and complete merit badge requirements, and a number of weekly projects ranging from playing Bingo with senior citizens to working at the Francis House with terminally-ill residents.
Habitat for Humanity has been an organization that I've worked with really since I stepped foot on this campus last August. I've been to New Orleans last Winter Break to help with the Katrina relief effort, to Albany last Spring Break to take classes about housing affordability advocacy and actually met with state legislators to lobby for a housing bill that was going up for a vote, and went back to New Orleans this Winter Break to help again with the Katrina relief effort. I anticipate traveling to Florida or South Carolina again this Spring to continue my work. I also serve on the Board of Directors as a Director of Finance for our campus chapter and help coordinate fundraisers and grants that our campus is involved in. We are a very active chapter. We raised over $60,000 last year to fully finance the construction of a house, we held a 3 day advocacy event called the Shack-A-Thon where students slept out in shacks on the quad for 3 days where we raised around $12,000, and we were ranked in the top 5 campus chapters in the entire nation last year. This is a really exciting and incredible organization that I love being a part of, if you couldn't tell.
Well, in honor of Martin Luther King Day I am off to go do a little part to help change the world by finishing up a Youth Service grant I am applying for through Alpha Phi Omega. Combine that with homework, a small article I have to write for Habitat for Humanity, and going to the gym, I have a full day ahead of me.
I almost forgot. I'm traveling to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to attend the public inauguration ceremonies for Barack Obama. I'm sure I won't get anywhere near the address, as about 2 million people will beat me to it, but the city is sure to be electrifying and exciting. I'll blog about it from my new Blackberry that I just got yesterday on the bus trip home tomorrow.
Au revoir et salut (I admit: I copied and pasted that, but I WILL be learning),
Justin
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