As my four years at the University of Florida comes to an end, there is so much to say about how the International Scholars Program has shaped me into a more open minded and understanding individual. With the campus life events, I learned about how easy it is to not pay attention to the struggles of others. When listening to the talk on the Lost Boys of Sudan, I never really thought about the individual boys. I just thought that since the war was over, life must be better. But listening to someone talk about how he is haunted by seeing the deaths of his family and his cousin who was like a brother to him and yet, despite all that, continues to wake up in the morning and continue to live his life. This event made me realize that we might struggle when we come upon obstacles but it is important to overcome them in order to succeed in life. Another campus life event that really struck me was the panel that I spoke on called “Young and Muslim in America” in which me and four other individuals discussed our lives growing up in America especially after September 11th. Many of us had to struggle reconciling our identity as Americans and as Muslims unlike other people. The women who wore hijabs (including myself) discussed how our hijabs had been pulled off because people wanted to see if we had hair. We were told to go back to our country even though we were all American citizens. This event was made even more interesting because one of the audience members came to ask a question that turned into a rant about how we should basically “suck it up” because we haven’t experienced true hardship. She then talked about her mother and how she survived the Holocaust and because of that, we have no room to talk about our hardships. This was extremely disheartening for me because a space that was meant to be open for everyone was shut down. It made me realize that despite the fifty people in that room that were not as closed minded as this lady, there still needs to be panels like this to show how important it is to humanize Muslims and people from other cultures and religions so that people can relate to them. During the past four years I’ve learned to expand my mind. I did not realize how many internal biases I had towards others but the more I met people and worked with them, I realized how much we are all very similar. If we stop to listen what others try to say rather than always trying to promote our agenda we would realize how we all want the same thing: acceptance, appreciation, respect among other things.

After graduation, I plan on moving to Morocco in September. I have accepted a position as a Youth Development Volunteer. My experiences as a volunteer camp counselor for middle school and high school kids and my experiences as an international scholar will help empower the youth and help them realize the strength that they have. These past four years I have taken classes like abnormal psychology and global gender violence. In these classes I learned that the biggest issue in these areas is the lack of acknowledgement and improper acknowledgement. Living in America, we have some sort of privilege. We think that our way is the best way. When it comes to gender roles in other countries, we automatically try to “empower” the people. We do not try to learn about how people are empowered in their own culture because we tend to look at the world through ‘America’s’ lenses. I’ve learned to expand my mind and learn to appreciate other people and their cultures. For example, in the class Global Gender Violence, I learned about how issues in ‘developing countries’ are over exaggerated in order to take attention away from real issues. Female genital mutilation is something that is portrayed as a common issue in countries and it leads people to assume that most women have been affected. In reality, more women are fighting for more access to education and work and equality, which is similar to the same struggle of women in the United States. The more classes I’ve taken, the more I’ve learned how similar people all over the world are. I know it sounds repetitive but the barriers that have been broken down throughout the years have made me a much more enlightened individual.