 My name is Madi, I'm a junior here at the U.
 I'm studying History and Social Work with a Spanish minor.
 I studied abroad in Seville, Spain last fall, Fall 2018.
 I did like the Arts and Sciences program.
 I took a lot of Spanish language classes, but also some of my major classes,
 and got to travel around Europe and around Spain, and it was amazing. 
 [Laughter]
 My Learning Abroad experience impacted my academic career because I added a Spanish minor.
 I also never considered the possibility of a global career before I learned abroad,
 and now that's something that really peaks my interest
 and I think that I'm going to pursue after I graduate.
 One of the biggest barriers I face personally was I'm a first-generation college student,
 so I didn't know anyone that had ever studied abroad,
 let alone really gone to college in my family,
 so I didn't have any like experience, I kind of just went into it blind and that was really intimidating.
 but I felt like I kind of overcame that barrier by doing research and reaching out to people
 who had studied abroad that maybe I wasn't really close to, but I wanted to get an answer to.
 Another one was a financial barrier because I would not have been able to study abroad
 without financial aid,
 and I got... I really worked hard on applying for scholarships and financial aid and ended up 
 paying for the whole program through those two things so it was a possibility for me.
 During... just a large part was like being away from home. I had never been away from home,
 so it was a big barrier like taking that step towards independence
 and being away from my family, and my friends, and the culture that I knew,
 but the longer that I was there I learned to kind of like embrace the differences
 and appreciate them instead of think of like the negative aspects to them,
 and that really helped.
 I definitely think my Learning Abroad experience was a wise investment because
 I think it impacts... it's impacted my career choice, my academic career,
 it's given me both like hard and soft skills 
 that I think I can take to the job market 
 and really market myself as a globally competent individual,
 and I think it's changed my perspective on the world
 to be more inclusive, and accepting, and just more curious.
