Angel Reyes, Marissa Norton, and Samantha Emerick discuss their recent study abroad experiences led by faculty in the USF School of Social Work. Tune in for advice on studying abroad and an examination of public health, stigma, and the global fight against sickness, poverty, and injustice.
Angel, Marissa, and Samantha talk about their hands-on experiences within community-based health care and social service organizations in Peru and Spain, where they had the opportunity to examine alternative health and mental health practices and learn about the socio-cultural context of health. The group compares what they saw in those countries to practices in the United States and discusses how improvements can be made.
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Learn more about the School of Social Work at the University of South Florida here.
Chris Groeber: Hi my name is Chris Groeber, and I'm an associate in research in the University of South Florida's College of Behavioral and Community Sciences School of Social Work. Welcome to the Remark- A-Bull podcast.
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Chris: Well, hello listeners, and it's so great to be back with you. We have a really exciting group of students here today, former students and students, to talk to you a little bit about recent international experiences they've had in our School of Social Work study abroad program, which makes them all remarkable as, as the podcast says, in their own right. So I'm going to kind of go around, I'm going to introduce you to Angel, Samantha, and Marissa. And I'm going to let them introduce themselves to you and tell you a little bit about where they went and we're just going to kind of dive into it. Guys, welcome, welcome! I'm glad to have you all here and help. Angel, do you want to introduce yourself and tell them who you are and where you're at in the program and where you went?
Angel Reyes: Yeah, sure. So, hey, everyone, my name is Angel. Thanks again, Professor Groeber, for having us. In the program, I currently just completed my first year of the Masters of Social Work program. So, one more year to go, and yeah, and I went to Alicante, Spain and as well as Granada for my study or study abroad for two weeks.
Chris: When did you go, Angel?
Angel: So it was after this semester, it was during the Maymester, so it was the beginning of May until about the end of May.
Chris: So about two weeks, three weeks, something like that. Great!
Angel: Yeah.
Chris: All right, Samantha, where'd you go?
Samantha Emerick: Hi. Good morning. We went to Lima, Peru is where we spent our two weeks and then primarily sort of in a suburb called Carabayo in sort of the outer areas of Lima. It's about two hours away, but Lima was a pretty big place, and we visited a few other areas, neighborhoods within that space, but all of it was within Lima.
Chris: Samantha Emerick, where are you at in our program?
Samantha: So I recently graduated ...
Chris: Woot woot!
Samantha: But I did graduate with my masters. I did the advanced standing program, and it was very quick. It definitely passed by fast, and now I am just taking a summer vacation until I start the dreaded job hunt in the fall.
Chris: [Laughs] Great. Marissa, tell us, tell us where you are and what your experience was.
Marissa Norton: Yeah. Hi, I'm Marissa and I was on the same Spain program as Angel, but I'm in ... just starting in the BSW program, so being with a lot of other students who are further along in their social work degree progression, I got to learn a lot from them. And another cool aspect of our Spain program I wanted to point out is that we got to stay with host families during the duration.
Chris: Oh wow!
Marissa: So very immersed.
Chris: So you've got to eat all the food and live like they live and have all those experiences, huh?
Marissa: Yes.
Chris: Sam, where did you guys stay?
Sam: We stayed in downtown Lima and actually in a hotel situation, which I have to tell you, I was not mad at after two hours and four hours a day and a bus, I was not mad at a hotel and then it was sort of like this cute little touristy part of the the town, but we had easy access to go to the more artsy area the more touristy areas, but we were kind of centrally located right on the coast. It was nice. The weather was very much a spring in San Francisco sort of situation. So, foggy in the morning, lots of cloud cover, but then in the afternoon you've got this beautiful expanse of coastline and city, and I would definitely go back.
Chris: Very cool. So, Marissa, let's ... I wanna start with you. Tell me a little bit about what you all did and talk a little bit about what experience really stuck out to you with regards to your travel.
Marissa: Yeah, so our first half of most of our days included what we called agency visits, but that varied a lot. So we visited the University of Alicante and spoke to other students of social work and translation. We visited Red Cross and a public hospital, and the one that really stood out for me was the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Alicante or APHA. And that one was really impactful for me, partly because there was a larger focus on accessibility, which is a topic that's become a lot more important to me in the past couple years, partially just from learning a lot more about how accessibility impacts all of us and how important it is and then also becoming a lot closer to people who are impacted by that, even here on campus at USF. And another reason it was really impactful is because of how strong the relationships were there. So there was the members of the association who have spina bifida and then their family members and the social workers that we also got to talk to. And I felt like it was a really good model for an association like that. There wasn't any sense of pity, which is something I think some people can be inclined towards...
Chris; Yeah, yeah.
Marissa: ...when they hear about people who have disabilities or other types of marginalizations, which I think can be really frustrating, and it can become really patronizing and really unhelpful for making conditions better for people. But the social workers there and the members and their family members were all working together and were really part of a process together to create their programming and build their community, so that was a really large take away for me. And the social workers really gave space for the people there to share their experiences living in Spain. A lot of them had different types of abilities and disabilities and experiences. We got to learn about one person who created a production company, which was really cool. She was able to create the opportunities that people weren't giving her, and she created those opportunities for herself and for other people who have spina bifida, which is classified as a pathology, or people with disabilities or anyone who wants to be involved and they can be in that whole production process. So it was really cool to hear about that kind of support system and uplifting each other and other people's experiences with accessibility in Spain and that that kind of sharing was really encouraged.
Chris: That's very and I've got a lot of questions around that Marissa but I want to jump to Samantha and ask her about her experience because she was in a different country. But I want to come back to so I want you to think about the question I want to ask you is the how you think of what do you think about the difference in viewpoints of people with disabilities or people that are differently abled culturally in different countries, right. Because I think a lot of times, I think a lot of times we think with a very American view and we've kind of cornered the market on that. So I want you to think about what the variances you see are culturally between the two countries in their view of disabilities. But well, I want to put a pin in that and come back to it. Samantha, tell us a little bit about what you all did in Peru and what stuck out to you.
Samantha: OK, so our objective, we were there to sort of see what Socios En Salud does for their their clients and Socios En Salud is the the Lima chapter of a organization called Partners in Health out of Boston, and they do a lot of funding and things for Socios En Salud. So Socios En Salud is there to assist with things like mental health and physical health of the clients who seek it out. So, that could just be something like you know you have a kid who needs vaccinations for school and, you know, they need that taken care of and then you have other patients who come and because they need counseling, you know, they need mental health. One thing that really stuck out to me in our work was that life happens. There are parts of Peru that are very, very poor. And when I say poor, I mean, you know, these are, these are buildings without roofs, where they've strung tarps and different things and shingling up to just keep the water out, you know, and everybody there hustles. When you stop at a stoplight, there is somebody there offering homemade food to you. They're offering things like coloring books and toys and sweaters and, other drinks, all kinds of stuff. People are out there everywhere doing it, getting it done. And I think Socios reflects that, and they will meet with you however and wherever you need. If that means a daily phone call and check in because you're a brand new mother with a baby and you're young and you're married, but your husband has to work, you know, until the late hours and then he comes home and wants his dinner and wants beer and you feel alone and isolated and scared and you've got this child to take care of and you have no idea what you're doing. There is somebody there to check in with you to teach you those skills or put you in the direction where you can learn that skill from an agency or from someone, and then also have your mental health followed up with because, you know, that's equally or more important in some spaces and and moments than it may be in others. And then you, you know, you graduate out of the program because now you've learned these skills and you can move on, but just the way they were there with their clients in the, you know, the day-to-day living, you know, coming by the house are the, you know, do you have food is your, you know, your water running, that sort of thing. I just really appreciated how in the trenches and hands on their work felt.
Chris: Wow, so you know what's interesting to me? Sometimes, I think, as providers as we're at our best when we're at our most primal level of needs. You know what I'm saying? When we– I I know I always feel better when I can actually do something that you see the immediate difference in like giving somebody food or water, you know what I'm saying? It feels, it feels like impactful in ways sometimes the other stuff we do doesn't, right?
Samantha: I would totally agree with that and I think maybe that's the positive side of our need for instant gratification, right? We, just like our social media stuff, but we feel better, you know, we feel accomplished when we do assist a person in getting a service or an item or things that they need. You know, so if that's, if that's a good thing, then I'll take it.
Chris: Well, and it's what we go into it for, right? I mean isn't that we all want we say we want to help people quote UN quote. Well that's really one of the opportunities kind of the at the, you know, Maslow's hierarchy of need, at the most important level to be able to do that. That's great. All right. Angel, tell us tell us a little bit about ... you went the same place Marissa went but what was your ... what was impactful for you? Tell us what you did that jumped out at you.
Angel: I think the biggest thing is there ... I mean there's a lot, but I think the biggest thing was when we visited a bilingual school and it was basically equivalent to like a K through 12 private school here in the US and I was just amazed and really impressed with just how school is done over there specifically in that I don't want to over generalize, but I mean they had three- and four-year0olds learning three different languages, right?
Chris: Wow.
Angel: So, like Spanish, English and Chinese for example...
Chris: Wow!
Angel: ...were were languages these kids at a young age were learning. And I look at that compared to the US and I look at like how I grew up. I grew up in a in New Mexico where, you know, the language is primarily English, but there's a lot of Spanish speaking individuals and Spanish still wasn't emphasized when I was growing up nd then it just amazed me that sometimes we may underestimate the brains of children and how much they can really digest. And I think it just speaks to like these kids are learning about different languages and on top of that they also have when when the kids get older, probably like more middle school age, they're learning about emotional intelligence.
Chris: Right.
Angel: And they're learning about how to express their emotions. And, so, I really think that affects them down the line when it comes to mental health issues because they actually know how to identify how they're feeling in these specific situations and moments, and they know how to ask for help compared to sometimes here in the United States, where some of us don't really get that education on how we can express our feelings and emotions.
Chris: Right! Right.
Angel: And so I I felt that that was really impactful, honestly, to just be teaching these kids at a young age about emotional intelligence as well as giving them the ... and empowering them to learn three, four, five different languages depending on their their intellectual ability.
Chris: That’s amazing. Well, so let me ask this the this question, the elephant in the living room question. Now you guys both went to primarily predominantly Spanish speaking countries. So yeah, how many of you speak Spanish? Who speaks Spanish here?
Angel: Not fluently.
Marissa: I would – I'm a Spanish minor, so I feel...
Chris: Okay.
Marissa: You know, I'm very intermediate. I could definitely communicate, but I'm not fluent by any means.
Chris: All right. Sam, do you speak Spanish?
Samantha: No, not really. I did. I had some lessons and tried to keep going, but it wasn't something that I was able to do. But we were able to communicate really, really well. Dr. Galea acted as Spanish translator. He did a lot of heavy lifting and so did Paul Munoz. I don't know if he knew that he would be translating as much as he did, but we would have floundered quite a bit without just his unofficial, you know, translations.
Chris: And you guys used, probably, Dr. Carrion?
Angel: We used Dr. Carrion, but we also had ... there's a program there that we have been collaborating with, I guess, since ever since Dr. Carrion and Dr. Joshi have been going to Spain. And so we have native speakers there from Spain that kind of were our tour guides.
Chris: Cool!
Angel: And they they serve as as translation services, too.
Chris: So, how how hard was that guys, like what was your what was your most difficult or most helpful communication tip you would give to one of one of us who has never been out of the country that's headed to another country, what would be your best advice?
Samantha: Try.
Chris: Try. I love that.
Samantha: Just try. I mean, have a good, like, Google translator or whatever on your phone. Have your phone out. Have it in your hand at all times and ready to use it. If it's looking at a word that you're not sure what it is, that you can't figure it out by context clues or just ready, you know, because you're in a store and you're ready to use it. But like, seriously, just try. Like, just like, open your mind to the idea of I'm gonna try and pick this language up too and start paying attention to it well before you need to use it, I think was helpful for me. So, just listening to Spanish language, you know, or music, even just paying attention to it so that it would be more familiar with me to me when I was in the country.
Chris: That’s good advice, Marissa. Do you have any?
Marissa: Yeah, I definitely agree with that. And I think part of trying is also asking questions. That can be a little bit scary sometimes, but it's very helpful.
Chris: All right. Angel?
Angel: And then I think don't underestimate your ability to use body language, because that's a big part of communication, right? But I think on top of Samantha and Marissa's point about practicing before you get to the country, really ractice while you're in country because I think it's easy when you get to the country to turn it off and like, “I'm just not going to pay attention.” But for example, in our host family's house, we'd watch the news after we came back from like our agency visits and just watching the news and hearing them speak the language was just very helpful as as I was there throughout the whole trip.
Chris: You know, I've had several international experiences. Part of the reason I was interested in talking to you guys is because I'm a social worker, really, because of my international study abroad experiences and, and what I realized is people do by and large really appreciate you sincerely trying, right? That's like a real connection point. I I lived in Russia and I was in India and, of course, the you know the Indian language, the Russian language, I mean you talk about just so far out of my experience, but learning words and learning how to say please and thank you and hello and goodbye really scored me some connections that I think I probably wouldn't have had, had I not tried. I love that: trying. You know, you guys talked about some pretty advanced stuff going on in communities around their viewpoints on individuals, like with disabilities. So, when you guys look at, you know, we come with a lot of times without even knowing it because we're so immersed in it. We come with a very American view of disabilities, for example. So what was the big take away or shocker or whatever with regards to how they view people that are differently abled?
Marissa: I think for me there was definitely a lot of similarities and a lot of similar challenges. I think there's still a lot of progress to be made all over the world in regards to that, but there was differences because the cultures and societies are set up differently. So in Spain societies are a lot more walkable, typically, and there's more access to wider public transportation. So, the way that accessibility can be implemented is different. But then also because there's focus on walkability and the pedestrian, I think that kind of created a challenge for one of the people we talked to at the association where he wanted a ramp ... there was a step to get to the door of his building and he wanted a ramp so that he wouldn't have to get out of his wheelchair and then pick his wheelchair up just to get into his building, but they didn't want it to impede on public space. So there's strengths and weaknesses with that and there was differences, like he explained that it was easier typically for people with intellectual disabilities to get employment than people with physical disabilities. I think that might manifest a little bit differently here, but just that there's challenges, but then also strengths that are different.
Chris: OK. Angel, thoughts on that?
Angel: I think Marissa hit it on the head there. What I would say, though, is I know it may be something small, but whenever we would cross the street, the cars like, like the pedestrians have the right away, so cars would stop and stuff and it didn't really matter if we were a big group walking through or if there was somebody on a wheelchair or something, but I just thought that the mutual respect between somebody in a vehicle, for example, and somebody that needs to get across the street was really interesting to look out compared to if you look at a big city here in the US where people are just, you know, flying down the highway, flying down the street, not really looking both ways, but it is, but it is interesting to look at. Look at that. I didn't really pay attention to it as closely as like Marissa did, but...
Chris: You know one of the things, every, every country I've been in really outside of the United States really has walkable cultures, right? The whole culture is based around, I think Marissa you said accessibility, but that ability to walk places and go places, whereas where I live, even if I push the crosswalk button, I'd better wait a beat before I step out because sometimes the drivers in the United States, that's just a suggestion not a command you know? And it is it is a very scary thing that I think we don't ... we've lost sight of here in the States is that kind of walking culture because we're so hurried here and I think we don't slow down enough. I think there's something cultural inside of that that's probably much bigger than we even talk about as a culture, don't you think?
Angel: I agree, yeah.
Chris: Sam, talk a little bit about the viewpoints of mental health in Peru versus the mental health, the viewpoints on mental health here in the States.
Sam: So interestingly enough, Peru actually has some of the more favorable legislation towards disabilities, in general. But ironically, I don't know if the legislation always translates down to, you know, budget and things actually being implemented and Peru is also a very strongly Catholic country. So, you know, maybe in the more rural parts of the country, you know, disabilities might still be viewed as a, you know, punishment from God for your sins or because of some sort of witchcraft. So, it's, there's a little bit of a dichotomy there, but since we did spend a lot of our time, you know, as I said in Lima and kind of the businessy sort of district, you know, there are things for people with physical disabilities. So with your mental disabilities, that's where we come back to Socios En Salud where they do, sort of, are starting to see more people wanting that mental health and counseling and help with resources and what have you. So it does look like there may be a change in how that stuff is is looked at, but it it doesn't seem to be ... there doesn't seem to be like a day-to-day stigma against, you know, seeking mental health. Now, that may be something that someone else with more experience could speak to. This was last year and so I could be missing some of the finer points and, if I am, I do apologize, please forgive me that I'm not as prepared as I could be, but I didn't see anything that was outright alarming. You know, it is always good to see when people are seeking the help that they need. You know, whatever that may be.
Chris: When you guys look from another shore back at the US, what are some things you guys think about that our takeaways from where you were that we could really consider learning from these other countries?
Samantha: For me, it's the fact that the Ministry of Health in Peru saw a problem and that's that they still have very high rates of tuberculosis. And you know, they said we need help with this and so, somehow or another, you know, they partnered with Partners and Health, they have Socios En Salud, this Tuberculosis problem was addressed, I think they have think it was like 83% eradicated in the country and because that program was so successful, Socios En Salud was then able to move out to the mental health, the maternal health, communicable diseases, and assistance for HIV. So, I really like that there was a problem, it was addressed and Oh my gosh, this works so well, what else can you do instead of...
Chris: How can you apply it? Yeah.
Samantha: Right. Instead of saying, “all right guys, work here is done, let’s, uh, just move on,” you know, and pull up stakes like I thought that was really cool and Socios En Salud does a lot of the mental health, you know, heavy lifting for the country. During COVID it was because of their association with Partners in Health, Socios En Salud was the people providing oxygen for those with COVID in the country during the pandemic. There's also only three mental health institutions, I believe, in all the country or maybe in Peru and so that's why organizations like Socios En Salud are important to be boots on the ground addressing this mental health issue and I just feel like we could, Americans, could take a little bit of that, you know, roll up your sleeves and get it done at the community level thing a lot more seriously than we do.
Chris: What about the rest of of y'all?
Angel: I would say for, looking back at the US and how we could probably do a little bit better, is we're just so individualistic and I didn't realize how much we were until I was in Spain and so, when the community or when an individual identifies a problem, there's a whole support system behind that individual or that community to get that problem solved and I feel in the United States here sometimes it's just on that individual to go...
Chris: Yeah.
Angel: On themselves, you know, pick, pull themselves up by the bootstraps and and figure it out, which has its pluses and minuses. But I think when it comes to certain some certain issues here in the United States, I think we all need to get behind as a as a collective group and team to figure it out because we can't all do it, we can't go all through this life by ourselves, wo I think that's the biggest thing is I took away is, is figuring it out together, whether that's two people or 100 or ...
Chris: Or a team. Yeah.
Angel: Or the whole nation, you know?
Chris: Wow. OK, Marissa, what about you?
Marissa: I really like that point and building off of that with something that we heard on one of our first days in Spain from one of the faculty members at the School of Social Work in the University of Alicante was a focus on human rights. So, just the baseline that we all deserve as human beings, not based on respectability politics or someone's income or their place in a society, just as human beings, we deserve access to our human rights and I think working together as communities can help to implement that and giving people access to just things that help increase dignity in day-to-day life. So, I think a more community minded approach would help with that.
Chris: So, let me ask you as a follow up to that, guys. You guys are very close, Marissa not as close, sorry. Of course Samantha's done, Angel is kind of in the middle, and you're you're kind of starting out. But how do you guys think this is going, this experience is going to impact you in the go forward? You know you know it's called the burden of knowledge, once you know better and you know things and you dispelled myths and you've had these experiences, they truly do make you a global citizen. And so tell me a little bit about how you think you'll be a different social worker, maybe a different parent, maybe a different significant other. What– tell me how this impacted you and the essence of who you are. Samantha, I'm gonna start with you.
Samantha: Good question. I think I'm certainly more inclined to want to build a team, you know, like you, actually this goes back to what Angel was saying about just being less individualistic and more, sort of, community or team oriented. And I think that's that would ... that's also comes from my time at the VA ... is assisting these patients and then wondering who is around to help them, either because they you know they would physically need the help or because, you know, they needed a mental health support system kind of thing. Not everybody has a network, you know, around them, like a family. Sometimes you have to build it from the ground up and how can I help them, you know, do that. Like, what organizations can I can I, you know, put around them? How can I help them find those people or give them the skills to find those people or right? Just there's much more in a community than there is just, you know, one man in island.
Chris: All right, Marissa, what about you?
Marissa: I guess I can approach the question a little bit differently, since I don't have as much of a sense of what I will be doing professionally.
Chris: Right.
Marissa: But something that would still definitely impact my professional practice is kind of how I wanna approach being a community member.
Chris: Okay.
Marissa: Something that I've been thinking about recently is, like, being in a different country and having that opportunity, which, for me, is something I had never done before. There's this mindset or mentality of like, go out and try new things and meet new people and be really intentional about that and that's really great for exploring a new place, but I've also kind of been realizing there's no reason for me not to do that here and connect with my own community more and be more locally minded at the same time as globally. So something that I really want to work on going forward is just being more part of my community and trying to be more intentional about exploring that.
Chris: All right, that's great. Angel, what about you? What? Tell me what the difference maker was for you and what how, how, how you feel like you've been impacted?
Angel: I think for me, it's what I'm gonna take forward from this experience is just being more critical of the media and the news and being more in tune with what's going around, not only here in the States but around the world. It's very easy to pay attention to only what's going around in Tampa...
Chris: Right, right,
Angel: ...you know, in the United States..
Chris: That's enough! Right, That’s enough.
Angel: Yeah, yeah, so I think just doing my due diligence and actually looking at other ... what's going on in the different country and how are they doing something that maybe I'm looking at, whether it's in school or whether it's after school, I'm doing social work practice and how that can be brought into, into me and then I think going back to like what I started with is, is that language ... if I have kids down the road really...
Chris: Yeah!
Angel:...hammering in that language can be such a a huge like force multiplier and just a big right way to just communicate with the rest of the world and I think that's just such a a big value that people can kind of underestimate, so.
Chris: I agree. It's my greatest regret. It's my greatest regret that I didn't become fluent and at least one other language. I'll be honest with you professionally, personally, if I could do anything, if I had anything to do over again, it would be to go back and be, whether it was in Spanish or Russian or German or or whatever, I would, I would go back and do that. Let me ask you guys. I want to give a shout out to our faculty that do this because it's their heart, right? They don't do it because they know it's going to just provide you a good experience, they do do this because it really is –and I get to work with them, I get the pleasure of working with them on the daily– and this really is a part of who they are. They really are truly global citizens. So when you think about Drs. Carrion and Joshi, Galea, Simmons, and Professor Thompson, this really, in essence, is a big part of who they are. So any statements, thoughts, any shoutouts? You guys want to just give quick props to your professors?
Angel: Yeah, I would say for Drs. Carrion and Joshi, they're just selfless servants, right? They put our needs and made sure we were accommodated in Spain before their own. And I know, I think Dr. Joshi mentioned she was working like on a grant while...
Chris: Oh yeah, she's she's always working. [Laughs]
Angel: Yeah, so, so they were doing a million different things on top of making sure that we had the best experience possible. So, hats off to them and I and I'm glad that we were able to go with them as a group because they really made the the experience worth it and I encourage any student that that can go to go to Spain or any study abroad.
Chris: Thanks for that. Exactly. What about the rest of a'all?
Marissa: I definitely agree with that. They were amazing and they were so caring towards us and I really appreciated that, especially first time out of the country.
Chris: Yeah, right?
Marissa: I would also want to give it a shout out to Dr. Joshi because I really appreciated hearing her perspectives during the trip, because she's also lived in India. She had different perspectives to pull from, and she was really ready to give us different information and things that we might not have thought of on our own, and making sure that we were thinking critically about these new things that we were absorbing and that definitely added a layer of depth to the trip for me.
Chris: That's cool, Samantha, what about you?
Samantha: You know, of course, shout out to Dr. Galea. I, as I said, have said ad nauseam, the reason why I went on this trip was see what Dr. Galea was all about because he brought his passion for, you know, Peru and the work that he does there to his human behavior class, of all things and I learned so much from him in that class and I was like, all right, well, I gotta go see what's up in Peru because obviously there's some cool social work stuff happening and so I went and it was amazing. I learned so much, you know, just seeing what they do there and then having the different perspectives of Dr. Simmons and Professor Thompson on our long bus rides back to Lima, you know, to our hotel every day. It was great to have them to process with and to talk through some of the different, maybe, cultural aspects or just you know why they might have ended up in that situation or how it would be done differently in America. You know, they were just great to have along, all three of them. It definitely, it was a great trip and you wouldn't have been able to tell it was our inaugural trip. They'd never done this to Lima before and it was just, it was just great. I had such an amazing time because of the work that the three of them put in.
Chris: I'm so, you know, I'm so glad to hear that. You know, to, and I know that about him but it's really great to hear you guys really affirm that. Let me ask you this kind of final question. So, you're talking to prospective students about coming to USF, and this doesn't just necessarily have to be about your international experience, but what sort of advice, encouragement would you give somebody who's considering being at the BSW, MSW, or PhD student in our school?
Samantha: I'll admit, I came to USF more out of location than I did for a driving desire to be a Bull. But going through, you know, the undergrad and the graduate program at USF has sort of made me appreciate clinical social work more than I did before because I've always wanted to do macro and so sitting under the professors that we've had through the entire program, you know, I just respect that aspect of personhood, I guess a little bit more, you know, because now I can understand a little bit better on how people think or you know, choices that somebody might make or maybe even how to address a problem differently because I see people differently.
Chris: Right, right.
Samantha: And, you know, that's really due to, you know, professors like you that challenge us to make us think differently about legislation or a policy or why we're thinking the way that we're thinking, you know, to, you know, our politics classes and different things that we've done. I mean, just the whole program in general really gave me just an appreciation for humans in general and as cheesy as that sounds.
Chris: It's true though, isn't it, Samantha? Because so many people come and they they're like, I don't necessarily want to do clinical, but having that time to understand what clinical actually means is something that's eminently transferable to wherever you go and whatever you do, right?
Samantha: Right.
Chris: It's one of those things where, you know, you can be sitting somewhere and you think thank God I had that individual class, because I'm dealing with a mental health issue right now that is completely, maybe even unrelated to your professional situation, but you you feel competent to deal with it and so I agree. What about you, Marissa? What advice would you give?
Marissa: I think kind of building on my earlier answer about wanting to be more in the community, something that happened a lot while abroad was that I was observing a lot and trying to pay a lot of attention to the context of the place we were in. We had really great tour guides who were able to give us a lot of history and information and even if I don't retain all of those facts, it was still really interesting to see that there's a context and a history to everything around me. So, I think applying that to here, whether it's at school, at USF, or in the Tampa community, or really anywhere, understanding the context of the world around us and the people around us and that there is a lot of depth to that is really helpful.
Chris: Wow, huge answer. Marissa, thank you. Angel, bring this home for us.
Angel: I think for any prospective students, I would say me coming from a background that really didn't have any, I don't have any social work, I think at first I was a little bit intimidated and felt a little bit of the imposter syndrome, but I think the faculty, as well as my cohort, allowed me to fill like I was part of the the team per se and I it was okay to fell maybe a little bit behind at times and just to to try and being in school is all about learning and failing and so I think you learn the most, as cliche as it sounds is when you do fail, and so I think it's better just to try new things while you're in your bachelor’s or undergrad program, bachelor’s or master’s program and it and really just take advantage of those opportunities and meeting people with different perspectives that I that I didn't really interact with before, given my background, so just to take advantage of the experience and get ready to work cause it is, it is a lot of work.
Chris: [Laughs] That's right. Well, guys, I want to thank you. You know, I, as I mentioned, I'm really proud of the colleagues Dr. Carrion and Dr. Joshi, Dr. Galea, Dr. Simmons, and Professor Thompson. I'm always proud, but you guys are like, for me, the fruit of their labor and so it's an honor for me to sit with you guys for this past hour and kind of listen to how your education impacted you and it makes me feel really good to be part of a team that's doing this kind of impacting, right? And I'm so glad that we are able to offer these international experiences and and really connect people across the world, right, be this global ... teaching people to be global citizens, I think is a much bigger deal than we give it credit for in this era of very partisan rancor to step above that and say, “not only do I not have partisan rancor here in the United States, but I'm looking at it globally. I'm looking at I'm watching the news in Peru and I'm watching the news in Spain and I'm connected to those places.” It’s– I think it's the antidote maybe to the polarization that we find here in the States or experiences like this, who really make us stand up and look at what's really important versus all the stuff we find ourselves bickering over on the daily and I think this discussion with you all is a perfect example of that. So I want to thank each and every one of you. I want to wish you luck at all of your stages in this process. You guys, all of you will be absolutely magnificent additions to the field or wherever you end up. I I'm quite certain, I have no doubt about that. I've known Samantha for a long time it seems like, right Sam?
Samantha: Ugh, ages.
Chris: [Laughs] Dog years! But I had, Marissa, I had Samantha when she was a BSW way back and so it's it, it's great watching you guys evolve and go through this process and I just want you to know how much I appreciate. Any parting words to the listeners?
Marissa: I would just 100% recommend studying abroad. If anyone has the opportunity at all to do it in any capacity. And also that I'm just very grateful that I got to go on that trip with the faculty that we had and with the students, like Angel. They were all really great and I learned a lot.
Chris: Thank you. Samantha, you were gonna say something.
Samantha: Know thyself to include your strengths and weaknesses. Like, again, super cliche and cheesy, but it really is true. Like if you need help, ask for the help to include like, “hey, I did not understand what happened in that class” or you know, “hey, I need to take a few days,” or whatever. Because this is this is work that is built from passion and if you don't have the passion for it, the work is hard and long and you can't do this work if you're doing it alone.
Chris: Good advice. Angel?
Angel: I was just gonna say, “Go Bulls!”
Chris: [Laughs}
Angel: And when I was doing my research to come to grad schools and stuff I always like wanted to get feedback and on students own experiences and stuff. So you can put my name or e-mail in there as a resource that's prospective students reach out and wanted to get in touch. I'd be more than willing to have a chat or something about my experience in the program or whatever.
Chris: Well, thank you guys. You are truly remarkable. I'm always amazed when I do these, like what big fans I become of the people that I'm interviewing and I want you to know, at the end of the day, I, you have a fan in me and you have somebody who will root for you and and really wants the best for each of you, so thank you for doing this with me and I want to thank the listeners for taking the time and I want to thank my faculty coworkers for doing what they do and living, living their passion because as, as they will hear when they listen to this, it really is truly worthwhile. So again, thanks everybody and we will catch you on the next podcast. Thanks!