Student Blog: Oh, the Places You'll Go as an RC Student!

Prior to being a student at Michigan no one in my family, myself included, had ever gone to another country, no one except for me had ever even owned a passport. So when I told my parents that I would be going on two study abroad programs to London, UK, and Querétaro, Mexico, directly after the end of my freshman year, I got some of the following responses, “NO!”, “Absolutely not!”, “Who’s paying for this?”, “Other countries don’t function like the States so you’re putting yourself in danger.”, “Are there even other black people there?'' “Why can’t you just do something in Michigan?”

I knew there would be resistance because of my parents’ fear. They never had the opportunity to travel the world so their knowledge was limited to what was portrayed in the media, which is almost never positive, especially for young black men. This experience was completely new for them and me. It was something they could not prevent me from doing, protect me from, or really advise me on. With all this in mind I knew I had to do a significant amount of research on the locations I was going to, the languages spoken there, cultural norms, how my identities would be perceived abroad, safety, and how airports even worked as it would be my first time on a plane.

Despite being nervous about the process of going abroad, I was more nervous about how I was going to fund the program knowing my parents would not be able to contribute much financial support. It’s not typical for students to go on multiple trips, let alone in the same summer after their first year, so I had to get really creative with how I applied and used my funding. As a freshman, I was fortunate to be a CSP Summer Bridge Scholar and an RC student. These two communities helped me immensely with getting connected to the study abroad office, learning about the study abroad programs, gaining skills needed to go abroad, and securing funding to pay for the abroad programs. The RC specifically provided me with funding that was only available to RC students, which made it a lot easier to receive since I wasn’t in competition for funding with thousands of other students. Additionally, as an RC Spanish student, I was able to effectively communicate and translate for the non-Spanish speaking students and local people during the Mexico trip. Being able to talk to people in their native language was one of the most rewarding aspects of the trips and it led to stronger relationships and more meaningful experiences. I would eventually use these resources and more to study abroad again on a program in Madrid, Spain, after my sophomore year.

All of my abroad experiences were very different and had a major influence on how I saw the world, others, and myself. Going abroad challenged everything I knew about what it means to be Black in a global context, how my North American nationality and native English speaking abilities influenced the conversations or lack thereof that I had, and what lessons and values I wanted to follow to build a better and happier community. Although I gained a lot of knowledge and wisdom from these experiences, one of the most important outcomes from all of my programs was the relationships that I made and sustained. I met some of the best people in the world, some of which I would never have met without going abroad. The memories of laughter, tears, and happiness are to this day what I consider to be some of my most valuable possessions.