I thought maybe she was going to survive.

As I entered the cramped slit in the wall where the prostitutes live the smell of stale body odor and feces hit me. It was gross, but after two and a half months working in these conditions the smell was all too familiar. I had been working in the Kisenyi slums since my first week in Uganda. Kisenyi was where a lot of the homeless boys and girls of the capital city, Kampala, would stay. It was fairly safe, and there was plenty of metal scraps they could salvage to make a little money. On this particular day we were doing HIV testing for the girls. They were 12 to 21 years old and had to prostitute themselves to pay for the area they called home. I use the term home loosely for I could hardly call it a place of comfort and security, something a home should be. There was two sets of beds drilled into the sides of the wall stacked three high, six beds total. On each bed slept 4 to 5 girls and whenever one of the girls had to do “business” with a client the others girls in the bed would move to another bed until they were finished. If you looked closely enough at the beds you could see little bugs scampering everywhere, I thought at first they were lice then I thought they were termites after awhile I didn’t really care what they were.

As I was outside doing HIV testing one of the girls came up to me. “Uncle,” she said, (all the kids would lovingly refer to the white people as Aunties and Uncles), “will you go check on Fatimah? I think she is sick.”

After I finished testing all the girls and some of their clients (all of which were HIV negative to my suprise) I went into the area to check on Fatimah. As I entered the little slit in the wall a nasty little man came out. He reeked of alcohol and was tightening up his belt, it was clear he just finshed up his business. Fatimah was on the bottom bunk in the first room with her little baby sleeping at her feet. I felt her head, she was running a fever and was sweaty. It looked like she had just finished a marathon. Her eyes were half closed and all I could see was the whites of her eyes. I snapped my fingers in front of her face in an attempt to wake her up, no response, and gently placed my fingers on her carotid artery to feel her pulse.

Bump…Bump…Bump…

It was so slow. Not even close to the heart rate of a normal person. Her breathing was shallow and strained. She needed to go to a hospital. I walked out of the room and found Fred. Fred was my translator and one of the most amazing people I have met, he dedicated his life to the boys and girls of the streets,

“Fred, Fatimah needs to go to a hospital right now.” I said, hoping the urgency in my voice would be clear.

“She’s fine, man. I talked with her yesterday.” he replied.

“No she’s not. She has gotten worse, if she doesn’t go today then she will die.”

Fred’s eyes flashed wide with surprise. He went into the room and checked on her. After seeing her he knew I was right.

“We can’t afford to take her in, Canyon. It is too expensive,” he said.

I pulled out my wallet and gave him 100,000 Ugandan shillings, about $27 U.S. dollars.

“Taker her to the hospital right now.”

I returned to see the girls three days later. I met up with Fred and the look on his face was a clear indicator of what he was about to say. Fatimah had died the night before. The doctors tested her the night we brought her into the hospital and found that she had advanced-stage HIV. She had been taking the drugs that suppress the virus from spreading but stopped taking it several years ago because she could never remember to take them everyday so she just quit. Before she died one of the doctors asked if she knew who might have given her the disease. She didn’t know. It could of been one of her three boyfriends, or the roughly 15 clients who regularly see her. She was 16.

I think often about Fatimah. It hurts me to think about a life cut so tragically short. The entire time I had known her she was very sick but she still managed to be lively and cheerful every time I visited. Whenever I came to visit I always brought her and the rest of the girls some candy. They loved taffy and would always make sure I got a piece too. I always insisted the candy was for them but they still wanted me to have some. Even in the worst of conditions they always wanted to give. I was humbled by their generosity. She loved that baby of hers. I never learned the little ones name but he was so cute. The first time I held him he had this look of shock on his face. I don’t think he had ever seen a white person before.

What is going to happen to her baby? I often wonder but I know the answer. It will either die or live long enough to become another child of the streets, that is what happens to almost all of the orphans.

When Winston Churchill first visited Uganda he called it the Pearl of Africa, and I’d have to agree with him. There is an abundance of beauty every where you look. The massive Nile River meanders through the country and gives life to everything. Lions, hippos, rhinos, and elephants roam freely in Murchison Falls National Park. One of our closest relatives, the mountain gorilla, survives in the dense Bwindi Impenetrable Forest thanks to the hard work of many conservationists. Ugandans from the city to the countryside are some of the kindest, most-giving people in the entire world. Though with the good comes the bad and there are reminders everywhere which never let you forget that suffering exists. Homeless kids sniff jet-fuel on the streets to numb the pain and hunger. A HIV-positive mother of three can’t afford to send her children to school. Guards are stationed by every single surviving rhino in the country, a reminder that there are people who want to kill these animals for their horns.

So yes, this country is a pearl, but a pearl with cracks.

I will never forget my time in Uganda. This country whipped me back and forth across the spectrum of human emotion and I don’t believe I am the same person I was before I left. Now that I am back home I find there is a whole lot less to complain about and a whole lot more to be thankful for. A good reminder for everyone born into a life of privilege.

My name is Morgan Sarmento, and I am a Media Arts Major with a focus in Digital Art and Technology. For my Spring semester, I got the amazing opportunity to go to Cork, Ireland which is the largest county in Ireland. I got to meet so many people while also learning about Irelands history, culture, and music. I studied some Marketing classes to help with my Global theme of Technology and Society. While taking my courses, I was able to lean some ideas about sustainability and how Ireland is an amazing example of how to be a greener country by both big and small changes.

When I started my adventure in Ireland, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had been prepared by different organizations and learned a lot from others who have been there before, but there is so much more to Ireland than meets the eye. The first day that I arrived I knew that it would be a great time because of my encounter with my Taxi driver. Although I couldn’t understand some of the things, he was talking about due to his thick accent I knew that he was trying hard to help me understand the layout of Cork before classes started and help me so I wouldn’t get lost in such a big city. That to me reminded me of the kindness that Montana is known for and made me feel more at home in such a strange country.

During the semester, I chose classes that would be a great way to learn about Ireland from a more academic standpoint. I took an Archeology class while I was there and learned about the history behind Ireland and how it came to be the way it is today. That class also took us on field trips to various places in Ireland that had a historic meaning. We even got to see a Tower house that was renovated in 1885 and has stone carvings of the occupant’s names and the year that the new window was put in. It gave me a sense of just how old Ireland is compared to a lot of landmarks that are considered historic in America.

One of the other courses that I took which by far was my favorite was the learning the Irish language in an Irish speaking county. This class was a week-long trip where you got to go and live in a county that only spoke the native Irish language. I was able to learn some Gaeilge while also learning some of the other aspects of Irish culture that are important its rich history like the art and music and traditional dances. I also got to do some fun activities while there as well like a 14-mile bike ride along the coast and even visited a crystal shop that made the Crystal bowl that is given to the President as a gift from Ireland.

Aside from classes meeting the people and learning about their history and daily lives was fascinating. I went to a nail salon and was able to get to know the nail tech that has lived in Cork all her life. I got to learn what she does for fun as well as learn just how different Montana and Ireland are. I had a wonderful conversation with her about the difference in temperature that it was in Montana versus the Temperature it was currently there and I also got to explain to her what a traditional fair and rodeo  was and she thought that it was interesting the tradition and that she hoped to go to America one day and see a rodeo for herself. This experience overall was amazing. I learned so much about myself in such a short period that will help me in the future. I was able to learn and grow my knowledge and it broadened my creative horizons and I was able to meet people that have now become my best friend that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I now know what it’s like to truly be on my own and how to navigate living and working and schooling in a completely unfamiliar place and the tools that I have learned to cope with that will help me in the future so that no matter where I end up in my career or life, I will be prepared knowing I can handle anything life throws my way.

Hi my name is Makkie and I study Political Science and Communication Studies at UM. I spent this past summer in Washington, D.C. interning with the Youth Programs Division of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State. The Youth Programs Division is responsible for implementing all of the exchange programs that the State Department funds for both American and foreign high school students. 

My global theme is politics and culture and my challenge was figuring out how to promote cross-cultural understanding by engaging youth. Working with the Youth Programs Division was the perfect fit for me to explore this as I believe exchange programs are one of the best ways to promote this. Another reason I chose to intern with Youth Programs was because of my personal connection to one of their programs.  I was able to spend the summer after my senior year of high school studying Arabic in Morocco thanks to a State Department Program called the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) which is implemented by the office I worked with this summer. This program was life changing for me and sparked an interest in dedicating my professional career to helping others get the same global exposure I did through this program. 

There were about 20 employees in my division and only 3 interns so we were able to experience a wide variety of the work that they do. During my internship, I helped to compile grant packages, take meeting minutes, prepare briefing materials for senior department officials, write press releases, facilitate diplomatic simulations, and represent the Youth Programs Division at conferences and while meeting with members of congress. My favorite task of my internship was being able to help plan events for students who were either beginning or ending their exchange programs. Having the opportunity to interact with both American students and students from around the world and hear about their experiences was very inspiring and motivating. 

Overall, this experience further enforced the value of exchange programs for me and opened my eyes to many different career possibilities that I hadn’t previously considered. I also gained a much deeper understanding of and appreciation for all the behind the scenes work that goes into making these programs possible. I really appreciated having the chance to interact with people from so many different cultures and learned so much from each of them. I never would have thought I could have had such an international experience without even leaving the country! Thanks so much to the Franke Family and the GLI program for making this experience possible for me! 

When my Italian adventure began, I didn’t know just how closely I would follow the GLI theme “Culture and Politics”. The appeal of ACLE, or Associazione Culturale Linguistica Educational, was the chance to see Italy in a unique way and to teach a group of students that were similar to American children (but much more boisterous and fond of the song Baby Shark). I knew I would have fun teaching English to these kids and that it would be a valuable experience for everyone to share in each others’ cultures, but I didn’t know how powerful ACLE’s curriculum and a little passion could be.

Exchanging language and life experience with someone from a different culture enriches perspective, sure, but my abroad experience brought even more to the table. ACLE’s model is centered around creating bonds with the Italian students and sharing your piece of the world with them. One of our afternoon themed activities is “Culture Day” in which each tutor has their own workshop based on their country or state. These workshops include games, crafts, songs, and general silliness. A fellow tutor from Canada brought maple syrup for her students to try and taught them the Canadian National Anthem. I prepared a mini-lesson about the Salish tribe and conducted a Native American Art Workshop. More than anything, ACLE wants to promote a global community because, in general, Italians tend to have a rigid mindset about the rest of the world. Most citizens never move away from their home country, and 99% of Italy’s population is native. Arrigo Speziali, the founder of ACLE, told us that it doesn’t matter if the students learn a single word of English; what matters is that they become inspired about the rest of the world and start considering themselves to be global citizens.

In addition to broadening Italian students’ perspectives, ACLE has started to implement an environmental agenda to their curriculum this year. Students learn about keeping the oceans clean, deforestation in the Amazon, and acid rain alongside grammar lessons. While Italy is bellisima, there is a lot of trash in this country. Reusable water bottles are nowhere to be seen (ACLE gave the tutors new metal water bottles this year to try to counteract this trend) and everything is made of disposable plastic. Right now, I am watching an Italian woman dump bottle after bottle of water into a pot to make tea even though the Rome tap water is perfectly fine to drink, and, to top it off, threw the plastic bottles into the “organic waste” bin instead of the “plastic” recycling bin. At camp, we encourage environmentalism by having the students brainstorm how we can help keep Italy beautiful, sustainable, and clean. The ACLE curriculum calls for crafts, like turning a water bottle into a planter, and science experiments, like carving “monuments” out of sidewalk chalk and pouring vinegar over it to represent the effects of acid rain. The creativity of this environmental-minded curriculum has a huge influence on the students. And the best part is that they have so much fun doing these activities that they don’t even realize they are learning!

Italy’s culture has many differences from our own. In my classroom, the students were very passionate and easily distracted, which I took to mean that I wasn’t doing my job correctly. Actually, that’s just how these children are, and a classroom of excitable students is much better than students asleep at their desks. People kiss you on the cheek, and you have to learn which direction they go for first in order to avoid an awkward maneuver. They barely eat any vegetables and your diet consists almost entirely of carbs. You WILL eat pizza every day. The biggest cultural changes were, for me, jarring because I’ve never been outside of the United States before. After a while I adjusted. The key is to jump in and consider everything an adventure rather than a struggle (and call your mom twice a day when you’re exasperated).

My perspective on global community changed this summer because it is one matter to discuss what “global community” means while you’re sitting in a UM classroom but quite another to tell a 12-year-old boy named Matteo what Native Americans are for the first time. In our current political climate, it is more important than ever to learn appreciation and empathy for those in different cultures than our own.

This experience developed my leadership skills tremendously. The first (rather silly) growth spurt was the trip itself. I call this abroad experience my trip of Firsts: first time on a plane, first time out of the country, first time being away from home for several months, first time trying to navigate public transportation in a foreign language, etc. There were no baby steps involved in this process, and I am proud that I accomplished those things and lived to tell the tale. Another way that this abroad experience made me a better leader is everything ACLE asks of their tutors. Every day, I would lead a group of 15 to 80 students in songs, games, crafts, and lessons. I conducted my own classroom, the first opportunity I’ve had to do so as an Education major. I’ve collaborated with colleagues and ACLE staff to make each camp the best that it can possibly be, and I’ve evolved a lot through this process. My newly acquired leadership skills were born out of necessity to do my job well and to not get lost in Europe, but I’m grateful for every uncomfortable growth opportunity I’ve stumbled upon along the way.

This experience has brought about one big question: will this generation of students change the world because of our influence? The adult population of Italy doesn’t see climate change or global community as priorities, but it is my dearest hope that the students I’ve had in my classrooms will change that mentality. It has never been more important to be good stewards of our planet.

Italy embraces you the second you step off the plane (and I’m not just talking about the humidity). During my time here, I have known nothing but welcome from everyone I meet. This trip has taught me that human beings are fundamentally the same everywhere: children are crazy and playful, everyone loves to laugh, being good at charades helps surpass any language barrier, and family is everything. People here live passionately, and I hope that I have adopted some of that zeal for life. I will always be grateful to the many host families who have taken me in and the friends I’ve made among the tutors and Italian ACLE staff.

To anyone considering going to Italy, know that Italy will love you back just as hard as you love it. Say yes to every adventure, get to know people who speak broken English on the bus, and try every flavor of gelato under the Tuscan sun. I will come back to the USA with a suitcase full of souvenirs and a bigger heart, because Italy has taught me that the best thing we can do with our short time on Earth is to love every moment as much as we possibly can. Thank you, ACLE, for helping me grow as an educator and a human being and thank you, GLI, for making that growth possible.

My name is Delaney Slade, I’m a Management Information Systems major and this past semester I got the opportunity to live in the beautiful city of Torino, Italy. This once capital of Italy is a melting pot of cultures, art, architecture, history, amazing food, as well as being a gateway to France and Switzerland. I studied business while also taking a communications class for my GLI global theme, Culture & Politics.

The school I attended was an international business school so, in addition to the students being from all over the world, the professors were as well which enhanced my time studying in addition to the course material. My GLI focused class, Intercultural Communication ended up being the class I enjoyed the most and felt I gained the most from. We focused on how collectivistic vs individualistic cultures differ and how that affects everything from family, relationships, jobs, the past, and the future. Being able to look at other places and people in this light has provided me an outlook of understanding rather than judging for being different than the bubble I grew up in. The focus on how much ethnocentrism can affect our everyday lives and inhibit travel and growth opened my eyes in this course.

Another great opportunity I had because of this class was taking a field trip to Brussels, Belgium and visiting the European Union headquarters. The timing of this was so interesting because it was in the midst of Brexit and we were able to actually watch a live debate between two government officials from the United Kingdom. We also were able to speak to people about what they thought about the United States government and their perspective on the current political climate.

These experiences and also the city I lived in allowed me to come face to face with a diverse range of issues and situations that honestly made me very uncomfortable at times and forced me to grow. While Torino is amazing and it has a huge place in my heart now, the first couple of weeks I was there were quite challenging. In most other places in Italy that are more traveled by tourists (Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Tuscany region), almost everyone in the hospitality industry speaks some English. In Torino this was not the case, it was very overwhelming and isolating at times to be completely unable to speak with someone when trying to accomplish basic tasks. This actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of Torino, once I learned some Italian it was amazing to interact with locals and experience the most authentic Italy I could. Many cities are heavily frequented by study abroad students, there were only 55 Americans in Torino (it’s Italy’s 4^thlargest city, about one million people).  Locals were slightly confused but mostly intruiged and enthusiastic that we had chosen their city to travel to.

The amount I have learned about myself and also the world over the last 5 months astounds me. But as I’m sure how many people feel after traveling, the more places you visit the more you realize how little you know and the more traveling you feel you must do to see it all. Overall, I could not have asked for a better experience. I got to see so much of Europe and also learn about myself and cultures all around the world. We truly do learn the most when we are out of our comfort zones and pushing our own personal limits.

My name is Danika and I am a senior at UM with a double major in Psychology and Spanish. I spent the spring semester living in Cali, Colombia where I took classes with native speakers on all sorts of topics including sociology and economics in order to improve my Spanish skills and discover Latin American culture. My Global Theme and Challenge were related to Culture and Politics.

I lived with a host family and 10 other exchange students, something that gave me comfort in my first time living away from my family. Being in a culture far different from my own tested my patience (Colombians aren’t much for timeliness and fast pace) and increased my understanding of the different life experiences around the world. I was met with the utmost kindness and respect from my classmates and professors who always made sure to check in and see how I was doing.

I came to Colombia thinking I was fluent in Spanish, but learned quickly that I was intermediate at best. After a couple trying weeks, I began to pick up on the accent and different words used by the Caleños and my language ability increased tremendously. I had to push myself out of my comfort zone and not be afraid to make mistakes in order to improve and be able to communicate with the people around me.

My experience taught me to go after my dreams and goals without fear of failure and embarrassment. I was able to visit Machu Picchu during spring break (a bucket list item), hold a baby crocodile in Panama, and explore some of the immense, incredible country that I was fortunate enough to call home for five months. Te amo para siempre, Colombia!

My name is Abby Borden and I am pursuing my Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. While the sun is shining and the Clark Fork is flowing, I am currently in my summer semester, five thousand miles away from the garden city in a small city in Germany called Braunschweig.

Things I learned from living in Germany for five months:

• It doesn’t matter what people think about you, as long as they remember you as being kind.
Anywhere you go there will be excitement or drama or personal sacrifice. Changing your environment truly tests how well you can adapt to adversity. Even in the toughest times, if you can manage to be kind to others, you will never regret your actions (or at least make it more difficult to regret).

• You can make friends with anyone.
And you should because sometimes you’ll meet people who will challenge to be so much better than you thought you could be in just five months of your life.

• Statistically- if you are from the United States, you are the most likely to the worst cook in the room.
Yeah, so it turns my range of cooking abilities is pretty limited. Pretty much the only thing that impressed my friends was my homemade banana-walnut pancakes, which seemed pretty granola next to the traditional Italian, Indian, Chinese, Pakistani, Spanish, and German cuisine of my friends.

• If you want to feel simultaneously more confident and more skeptical of where your from and your values- move to a different country.
Especially being from the United States, where our politics are so highly publicized, everyone has an opinion. Whether they are for or against he things that are very comfortable to you about the US, discussions about world affairs really invoke a fierce jolt of self reflection.

• If you want to feel confident in yourself- take classes in a foreign language because anything you learn will be personally progress, as well as a great story later.
Nothing is a better boost to your ego than leaning a second language as an adult. It’s difficult and rare- so learning a fundamental form of communication while learning something like chemistry or architecture and succeeding will let you know that anything is possible. You just have to try.

• If you give up hope that your bus is coming, it will 100% come around the corner the moment you turn back to walk home instead.
Public transportation is amazing, but is also the number one source of my heartbreak that I experienced in Europe.

• There will always be someone to help you, you just have to ask.
I remember being in Italy on my summer class break and I missed so many trains and even a flight and on top of it I had lost my credit card- my brain was just not in the right place. I was so fortunate, however, to have made som amazing friends who lent me some money and took me out for gelato to cheer me up. A week later they even checked up on me to make sure I had gotten back to school safely. Traveling somewhere new can be both the most amazing. Experience and the most frightening, but there are always going to be people who believe in you and will be there to give you an extra push when you need it. About 95% of the time while traveling, I experienced so much kindness from people I had never met: women on train platforms, people with spare chains when you’re short a few euros, fellow travelers who also know what is like to be alone. But you’ll never be alone for long.

Greece is the land between the East and West, not quite conforming to either culture, but instead creating a beautiful blend that results in a place of good food, kind people and history spanning the millennia. Choosing to spend a semester in Athens was one of the best decisions of my college career, allowing me to step outside of Montana, into a place of growth and learning.

For my GLI theme, I am focusing on culture, something very different each place you go, but more specifically of the interactions between cultures and how prejudice and hate from within cultural groups. Athens was a wonderful place to end up with such a theme. I took a Modern Greek History class while there, and gained new insight into the formation of Greece as it is today and the conflict that brought it there. I focused individually, for a class paper on the Greek Jewish Population during the occupation and Holocaust. They faced 87% extermination of their population in just four years, one of the highest in all of Europe, due to hate and prejudice against their religion. It was incredible to learn about a population I had never before encountered.

I had the opportunity to take a few weekend trips while in Greece to places such as Hungary, Austria, Poland, Italy and Israel. I saw beautiful things, ate good food and took away, most of all, that every person you meet has something to teach you. Whether it’s the two, elderly Danish lady next to us at dinner in Krakow sharing Life stories with us young 20 year olds or a Taxi driver in Rome sharing the best hole in the wall place to eat (best pasta EVER!), there is something to take away from every interaction if you only take the time to stop and listen.

Each place I went, I toured museums, I saw the sites and I saw the world from new angles. I am particularly passionate about WWII, and with my challenge focusing on prejudice, I visited many places pertaining to the Holocaust and instances of hate throughout history. I visited the House of Terror in Budapest, Auschwitz 1 and Auschwitz Birkenau in Poland, and visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. I saw the bloody past of mankind because of hatred in order to learn and to remember. We must acknowledge the hate and prejudice in this world in order to combat it and grow into a people better than our past.

Being the type of person who likes a plan and to stick to that plan, my time abroad taught me to be flexible and embrace the blessings that come in the form of the unexpected. Opportunity arises when you take a breath and jump feet first into whatever comes your way and I saw much of that this semester. I got to breath in the island air on my birthday weekend because I said yes and jumped on a plane to Santorini with a friend. Best of all, my roommates and I discovered the best bakery in all of Athens that fed us free treats one night because we got lost and embraced the chance to explore a new neighborhood.

I learned to listen to strangers. I learned to embrace new and unexpected opportunities. I learned to watch the world with both eyes wide open. I learned that to see the world, as much of it as physically possible, is to truly live life to the fullest. You never know what you may find in the next city you explore. I am so thankful for Athens Greece, and for my time spent abroad.