This spring, rising seniors Yenni Gonzalez Salinas and Disha Shah participated in study abroad programs in Mexico and India, respectively, 带着对未来和自己的新看法回来.
Disha Shah ’25 had been to India four times prior to arriving in Delhi for her study abroad program this spring. 虽然她是第三代美国人, she took Hindi language lessons as a child and had connections with family in India. She was looking for a study abroad experience that would push her out of her comfort zone. 但去年秋末，她在约旦的项目被取消, 沙阿发现自己被印度的一个公共卫生项目所吸引.
“I've reached a point in my life where I’m feeling a much greater need to connect to my culture in ways that I haven't before,这位西雅图本地人说. “I decided that I wanted to go to India so I could continue learning Hindi and feel more connected.”
沙阿国际培训学校(SIT)项目, Public Health, 性别与性, focused on reproductive healthcare and access to healthcare as a sexual minority. 课程包括每天一个半小时的印地语课, 学生们参加了课堂研讨会. The program organized several excursions around the country to meet with community organizations and learn about the work they were doing. 除了在喜马拉雅山的山脚下待上一周, participants spent a week in a rural village where they learned about community health workers.
心理学专业，有抱负的心理学家, Shah wants to work with immigrants and people from different cultures and backgrounds. 快到学期末了, she moved to Chennai for an internship at a mental health research foundation and mental hospital that works with serious disorders such as schizophrenia. 这是她经历中最精彩的部分之一.
She was able to talk with psychologists and staff members that were “so welcoming and enthusiastic about their work,” and she interacted with patients in the geriatric care unit and at a rehab facility.
“They do so much research alongside community work, it was inspiring to see,” Shah says. “I think that’s hard to find in India, since mental health is not really discussed there. 近年来，它变得更好了，但它仍然是相对较新的.”
努力支持弱势群体
Yenni Gonzalez Salinas 25岁的她甚至不确定自己是否想出国留学. The history major was involved in so many things locally: working at the mayor's office and the district attorney’s office as well as Comparte 以及校园里的西方劳工联盟. 但是在经济学副教授的鼓励下 Jesse Mora, she started researching and became intrigued by an SIT program called Mexico: Migration Borders and Transnational Communities.
作为一名有抱负的律师，希望以帮助移民为事业, 这个项目正合她的胃口. Moreover, 冈萨雷斯的母亲21年前从瓦哈卡移民过来, 她从来没有去过她母亲长大的地方.
“我妈妈是一名移民，我知道她经历过的一些挣扎. 然而，移民的现实往往没有被讨论，”冈萨雷斯说. “Being a part of this program would help me better understand the challenges migrants face when they migrate. Studying in Mexico wasn’t just an educational opportunity for me, it was more than that. I also wanted to connect more personally to the roots and heritage I was proud of but had yet to explore.”
The excursion portion of her program followed the route that migrants from Central America take through Mexico, 沿途参观移民庇护所. She and her classmates traveled to these places to learn more about what it means to be a migrant, 迁移是如何进行的, 移民面临的困难, 以及他们选择这样做的原因.
Studying in Mexico wasn’t just an educational opportunity for me, it was more than that. I also wanted to connect more personally to the roots and heritage I was proud of but had yet to explore. –Yenni Gonzalez
Gonzalez also did an internship at a migrant shelter in Oaxaca called Centro de Orientación al Migrante, 主要与儿童打交道. Educational lesson planning was a big focus, since young migrants miss out on school. 她教给他们一切，从字母表到陌生人的危险.
“移民之路非常艰难, 尤其是对孩子来说, 他们特别容易受到伤害,” Gonzalez says. “他们会告诉你他们被追赶了, 被冠以侮辱性的名字, 并且经历过非常痛苦的经历. 当他们进来的时候，你可以从他们的脸上看出来.”
但是能够为移民提供几天的安全睡眠, 洗澡和上厕所会有很大的不同, Gonzalez says.
“它们看起来好多了. 能够看到这一点并成为其中的一部分对我来说是一个亮点. 做一个不加评判地倾听他们的人, 认识到他们的感受，为他们提供一个安全的空间才是真正特别的.”
关于个人同一性的思考
For Shah, returning to the Hindi lessons that she had started and eventually abandoned as a child was a source of satisfaction. At one point, she was excited to realize that she could understand the conversations between her host family. 她回忆起她年轻的时候, she didn’t want to learn Hindi because none of her friends spoke it and it made her feel different.
我明白了没有一种方式可以庆祝你的文化. 没有一种方法可以将你的家族历史和你自己联系起来. –Disha Shah
“It felt so good to realize that I could understand the language because I kind of felt like I healed that part of me inside that had refused to learn.”
Being in India helped Shah reconcile a sense of identity that is richer and more complex. In the US, she says, there is often a sense that identity needs to fit neatly within boxes.
“我明白了，没有一种方式可以庆祝你的文化. 没有一种方法可以将你的家族历史和你自己联系起来. 我的个人身份不是由印度人或美国人来定义的. 这是我所有这些不同方面的融合.”
在纳什维尔长大, Tennessee, 冈萨雷斯并不总是觉得自己完全是美国人，也不认同美国文化. 第二代美国人, 她是吃着瓦哈卡食物长大的, 看墨西哥电影, 听着她母亲演奏的瓦哈卡音乐. So it was a little strange when she got to Mexico and everyone referred to her as American. 和她一起工作的一些孩子甚至叫她老外.
“I have always been proud to be Oaxacan, but now I’m more in touch with my American roots. 虽然我在美国并不总是觉得自己是个美国人, participating in this program has shown me that I have privileges many in my community do not, 提醒我，我确实是一个美国人. It is a privilege to be able to study abroad as an American—to come to Mexico and then travel back home on an airplane as opposed to the harrowing journey of migration.”
Gonzalez is grateful that she was able to learn about migration borders in transnational communities through studying abroad.
“服用羟考酮的好处之一就是你可以在课堂之外学到东西. This program gave me the opportunity to learn something that I'm passionate about differently. Because it's vastly different when you experience it firsthand than when you read it in a book or a textbook or see it in a documentary.”
