Study Abroad and Personal Growth: Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

In this short solo episode, I share some thoughts about my study abroad experience in Scotland.  It pushed me and my students out of our comfort zone, but that was a very good thing.   

I taught one of the first Edinburgh hub classes for Texas State University based at Queen Margaret University.   Our hub programs are short-term study abroad experiences where students earn credit while spending 3-weeks living and learning overseas.  

Takeaways

• Students connected with each other while developing deeper connections with themselves
• Examples of Transformative Learning Theory 
• Students learned about course content and the local community
• Freedom to explore. Students visited Edinburgh (6 minutes by train) and  coastal villages like North Berwick
• New experiences built confidence and positive self-esteem

Homework: 

Choose one way to step into something new this week.
What surprised you the last time you tried something new?
How did you grow from the experience?  

Want to hear the real story? You can listen to the podcast interviews featuring my students here. They are fantastic!    

Hi Friend - Thanks for listening!

Check out my TEDx talk. Why you should take action - then figure it out.

Episode Transcript

Judy Oskam (00:02):
Welcome to Stories of Change and Creativity.
I'm Judy Oskam and, as I lookforward to starting the new
semester Texas State University,I can't help but look back at
what a fantastic summerexperience I had and how a study
abroad experience changed mylife but also the lives of my

(00:25):
students.
Leading a study abroad groupto Edinburgh, Scotland.
It really did show that travelcan break routines and enhance
confidence and build self-esteem.
I was honored to run one of thefirst hub classes at Queen

(00:46):
Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The class was an intro topublic relations foundations
class, a basic class, so we hada mix of majors.
There were only nine studentsin the class, but the students
were fantastic and I saw themgrow and change every day.
The first day everyone arrivedshy, getting to know each other,

(01:10):
having to find the university,getting there from the airport,
but then they started to connect.
And the first day of class wegot together and introduced
everyone.
We talked about the class.
We got together and introducedeveryone.
We talked about the class.
I sent them out right away todo a little campus project with
working in groups of three.

(01:31):
Again, there were only ninestudents in the class.
It was small.
Three classes went to theEdinburgh Hub program and with a
total of about 30 studentstotal and three faculty members.
With a total of about 30students total and three faculty
members.
But it was amazing to see howthe students changed and grew

(01:56):
and it really made me kind of doa little more research and
looked up sociologist JackMezirow's transformative
learning theory, because I gotto see it firsthand, I got to
experience it in real time.
The students came to class, theyconnected with each other, with
the course content, but moreimportantly, they connected with
themselves and they got out inthe world, in an international

(02:18):
venue, if you will.
Yes, English was the primarylanguage, but they got out.
They talked to business leaders, they interviewed shopkeepers,
they interviewed restaurantowners about public relations,
about their brand.
One team, one student's groupthe client that they talked to

(02:39):
even wanted them to do somesocial media work for them.
So I was super proud of thesestudents and they went out and
had a lot of fun as well.
But the thing is the class metbetween 9 and 12 in the morning.
Then the students had thefreedom to go out and work on
their projects, work on theirhomework and explore.
They could jump on the trainand go six minutes and be in the

(03:02):
center of Edinburgh, or theycould jump on the train and go
the other direction and in lessthan 20 minutes be at North
Berwick and be at the coast, aquaint village town.
So the students really had theopportunity to get on a bus or a
train and explore thecountryside of Scotland and

(03:22):
really get to connect with thepeople.
So growth happens when it'soutside of your comfort zone.
I saw it, I saw it in myself, Iexperienced it and we talked
about it as a class.
The students shared with me,some of them even let me
interview them for my podcast.
You can listen to thoseepisodes as well.
But we shared the last day ofclass.

(03:44):
There were tears, we werecrying.
Nobody really wanted to leavebecause we really did have a
great experience and I thinkeveryone realized how much we
all grew and changed.
So if there's an action stepthat I would give to our
listeners I would think about,you don't need to go to Scotland
, you don't need to travel farand wide.

(04:05):
You need to choose one way tostep into something new this
week, big or small, what can youdo in your own world, your own
community that would help yougrow and learn and I would ask
what surprised you the last timeyou tried something new?
How did you grow from theexperience?

(04:26):
Did you enjoy it?
Did you learn?
Well, have fun with this andagain, I look forward to
connecting with you later onwith more content and more solo
episodes and more informationabout change and creativity.
Remember, everyone has a storyto share and, if you do reach

(04:47):
out to me at judyoscomcom,Thanks for listening.