Competencies:
"To quote myself, on my first blog post after visiting the center, I wrote “When we first entered the facility, I could feel the privilege that I had to be able to volunteer” and after my last day, I wrote “I finally was making friends, they would call my name as I walked in”. In a way, these lines sum up my entire transformation over my four weeks in Rome. I transformed from a privileged American, volunteering at a refugee center for class credit to becoming “one of the guys” and forming genuine friendships with individuals. What I learned from these people were things that could never have been thought in a classroom and things that I myself could never re-teach. " Below is a response from my professor, Dr. Kathie Friedman who taught Honors 394, "I feel privileged as a professor to have come to know such a genuinely humane person as Malika Garoui. Malika was initially quiet in the class, but her words and actions were powerful. Because Malika is multi-lingual, she had a lens on life in Italy and especially in the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center, that was unavailable to most of the other students. Her observations and her reflections posted on the course blog made her a leader in the course, and prompted the most interesting and important of all the class discussions we had. Malika is an amazing writer, with a keen eye for what lays below the surface in society. What a pleasure to have had the opportunity to work with Malika!" Link to my blog while abroad |
Study abroad in ItalyWhat started as a desire to frolic around Rome just as Lizzie McGuire did, quickly transformed into an experience that will forever define who I am and my college experience. Aside from wanting to sing, “What Dreams are Made of” at the Colosseum, my love of travel, desire to study abroad and needing honors credits led me to Rome in the summer of 2014.
The transformation that took place over the four weeks that I was abroad has changed my entire academic path and has redefined the Husky Experience for me. The leadership skills that I developed and practiced throughout my time abroad are ones that I have held onto and built upon since my return. For the first time in my college career, I did something without the comfort of another individual. I wasn't applying alongside a close friend, I didn't know anyone else in the program, I had no familiarity with the course material, the professors, the languages or the region. The idea of doing something so outside of my comfort zone was terrifying to me, but I was ready. I wanted to travel and study abroad so badly that the desire overpowered the fear. Immediately after I arrived, the fear quickly vanished as strangers became friends and my Trastevre apartment became my new home. Through the coursework in Honors 394, we participated in a service-learning project, where we volunteered at JNRC (refugee center). Little did I know that the time I spent in the center, the discussions I shared with my classmates and the prospective that I received from professor Kathie Friedman would pave the way for the discovery of my academic passion. In this nontraditional setting, I finally found my place within the classroom. Most of the patrons of the center, were young Arab men – mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan. My personal family background, my appearance and my small knowledge of Arabic allowed me to emerge as a leader among my peers as we worked in the center. For the first time in my academic career, I felt comfortable and confident speaking in the classroom. I looked forward to the assigned readings and was eager to come to class and hear what my peers and professor got out of the material. Before every classroom discussion, we were required to post to our blogs about our experiences and on the very first day of class, Kathie called on me to share my “profound” reflection on the refugee center. It wasn't until this moment that I realized that I saw things differently than anyone else in the class because of my previous knowledge and experience. I was able to convey a small glimpse of another prospective. After such an empowering moment in class, I stepped into a role as a mentor and resource for everyone else in my class who struggled with language barriers, insensitive comments and gender stereotypes. The group of us started walking back to our apartments after volunteering so that we would have more time to debrief than if we were on the bus. Our conversations revolved around Arab-American relations, stereotypes, gender rolls, all of which I tried to contextualize the topics with history and societal norms, hoping to advocate for a different point of view. At the same time, I had to practice appropriate interaction, and know when to step in and facilitate the learning process and to know when to stand back and watch the development occur independently. Not only was this trip academically stimulating, it was also a time of immense personal social growth. For the first time in my college career I had allowed myself to form tight friendships outside of my core group. Opening myself up to the possibility of new perspective and connection, left me fulfilled in a way that I had never felt before. |