While preparing for departure, I do not feel any different from a typical week. Having this program be in the middle of the semester certainly has changed the way that I interact with both the course work and the travel preparation. For my previous study abroad, I needed to complete a relatively extensive packing list, plan my flights and finish my classes before departing. For this trip a lot of the leg work has been done, meaning I have less skin in the game in terms of the trip planning, which in a way has been nice. I have been spending this week dotting the Is and crossing the Ts ahead of my trip to Bolivia, mostly completing any outstanding assignments in addition to getting ahead on work for when we return. Most of the work done to this point I feel will begin to feel more meaningful once we arrive in Cochabamba. Although, I have learned a good amount of material, and completed a few deliverables for this course, I know from my previous study abroad courses that I will gain a lot more from being on the ground. One thing that I am anticipating highly is the amount of travel time that we need to go through to get to Cochabamba. As someone who loves planes, I’m excited to have the opportunity to fly on a few new airlines and a totally new part of the world for me. Looking at my excitement from an academic and professional lens I highly anticipate that I will be more motivated than ever when I return. Also, from what I’ve heard the trip to Bolivia really helps to solidify our project deliverables as we will not truly know what needs to be done until we return.

As a student here at the University of Pittsburgh this is the first fully project-based course, I’ve had the opportunity to take. Although I have participated in other experiential learning courses this will help push me to a new limit academically as I approach my graduation and prepare me more fully for life after the University of Pittsburgh. As a professional I’m looking forward to getting more confidence in terms of communicating across cultures. I’m currently also enrolled in a course called applications of linguistics which focuses on how we can communicate across linguistic and cultural divides. I feel that as Pitt business student consultants it is essential that we have an interdisciplinary approach to our project with the client in Cochabamba. CEOLI is an organization which requires an understanding of a variety of different social and cultural factors to effectively assist their mission. Something that we have emphasized in this class is the importance of having strong communication beyond a friend family or coworker translating. One case in our class covered a man who refused chemotherapy for cancer because he believed it was against his religion, however it was simply a result of a missed communication. Keeping this context in mind while I’m in Bolivia will be incredibly important when I believe or someone on my team believes that a certain response was disproportional to what we said earlier. For example, per discourse analysis we can focus on the amount of time spoken by both the client consultant and translator to ensure that there is no loss in context. Although this is a little bit of a tangent I believe that it will be really impactful while we are on the ground in Cochabamba.

I believe that the cultural norm that I will have the most difficulty adapting to while I’m conducting business in Bolivia will be the language barrier. One aspect that has often been brought up is how in professional settings Americans typically enjoy cutting straight to the chase as opposed to enduring some small talk. I wholeheartedly can say that I am the complete opposite. I’m looking forward to being in a culture that values getting to know one another deeply throughout the process of completing work. However, I believe that my limited Spanish ability will be a limitation in terms of my ability to build both rapport and potentially to communicate the work that I need to complete. This will be incredibly challenging as we have high stakes to our project and hopefully, we will be able to successfully complete our deliverables ahead of the planned festival in April. In addition, designing a customized outreach campaign to Pitt alumni will certainly be challenging to navigate across cultural divides. I’ve been very excited to work on this development project as well as to help design some of these pamphlets. Although I do not speak Spanish nor have, I learned it in over a decade, I am fully confident that by taking low risk high reward opportunities to speak Spanish whether that be in Colombia on the journey or in Cochabamba or even with the team at CEOLI, I will certainly be able to demonstrate that I have put forth an effort. I know from spending time in Germany during high school how important it is to be interacting daily with speakers of a foreign language to enhance your acquisition. This will be a perfect opportunity for me to embrace this challenge and ideally come back speaking just a little bit more Spanish.

I would have to say that the personal learnings that I am expecting to learn within the host country and by participating in a global service-learning experience are yet to be seen. Although I am going with as much intentionality as I can with a spirit of learning I do not want to predict the lesson that I will learn. I think if I had strong expectations for the results of my trip to Cochabamba, I would be doing myself a disservice as I would be robbing myself of the lessons that I do not anticipate. During my previous study abroad program I learned way more from being put into situations where I was uncomfortable, and I fully expect that to be the case once again in Bolivia.

Reflecting on the coursework we have done so far here in Pittsburgh a few articles have stuck out to me as being exceptionally impactful on my understanding of the project thus far, particularly when it comes to working within teams and across different organizations. Building an ethical partnership by Dawn J. Lipthrott is the article I remember most from the semester. Being in this course I know that everyone involved in the project is bought in to the mission that we are serving. This however does not mean that we all have the exact same intentions skills and motivations for being here. We are all also given different circumstances outside of the classroom. Navigating this has been challenging throughout the semester as we have struggled to find the time to all get together as a group. I for example had to miss a meeting last minute because of a conflict. These ethics are even more important when we are in country and when we are juggling other aspects of our lives such as work school and social life. Although I feel that our group has done an exceptional job with a few of the topics that the author mentioned, such as respect care and valuing for well-being of all and integrity I believe that we can improve on both our own personal responsibility and accountability as well as collaboration. I for one know that I need to take more of a collaborative approach. I tend to enjoy doing work on my own which means sometimes I struggle to work in more collaborative environments where we are working hand in hand in real time. This means I need to put an emphasis on completing m most of my deliverables before meetings as opposed to waiting until we are meeting as a group in class or outside of the classroom.

Outside of the project work and the personal growth aspects of this trip, I’m exceptionally excited for a few other aspects of the journey. The place we are going is exceptionally well known for its fantastic cuisine which I am absolutely stoked for, particularly silpancho and saltenas. On my previous study abroad I was a lot more limited in terms of what I could eat as a result of the food safety standards in the region. Another aspect of the trip that I’m looking forward to is getting to know my group. Although you’ve been working together for about half the semester, I think that going to country will help us get much closer especially considering how small our group is. I believe that this group is a perfect size for this length of trip where we could focus in on our work with one another and get to know each other. Finally, I am greatly looking forward to flying on a 767 on the way back from Sao Paulo as we return. This will mean that during college I will have flown on 767, A350, 787, 777-200, and a 777-300ER. Although this will likely not make sense to people who are not as fascinated by planes as I am, the pressurization of each of these planes dramatically shifts particularly on the A350 and the 787 as that has been a focus for the manufacturers. That means reduced jet lag reduce dehydration and a more comfortable flight. I am excited to compare the 767 to the other wide-body aircraft I have taken.