I enjoyed this week’s peer review activity because it allowed me to have a frame of reference for self-critique and comparison of my own work. The feedback I received was helpful in learning what I should work to improve, and it so happened that the other works I read seemed to have different strengths and weaknesses from my own, so they served as a useful example of what to work on. I’ve done peer reviews in other classes in the past, but the majority have been in settings of writing styles with stricter structural rules and so this was a new experience. Sharing personal reflection can feel more vulnerable than academic writing, since feedback might feel more personal, but I felt that all my peers were respectful of that fact and the feedback I received was constructively helpful.
The later presentation surprised me in some ways. I feel that often in the university, international studies are presented as a very strictly humanities, reading-and-writing based subject, and although I know that isn’t the case it felt a bit surprising to consider a more technology-based perspective on the topic. Being a science major, I am very much interested in the ability to study other countries and cultures outside of the scope of their literature and similar humanities fields. In previous science classes of mine, we have talked about impacts of globalization and travel on disease spread, genetic diversity, and ecology, and I would love to continue studies such as these through my GEM pathway.
Professor Lipton also discussed study abroad and various programs, and since I definitely plan on going abroad during my undergraduate career I found it interesting to hear how other countries structure their programs so differently from ours. I have some experience with spending time abroad, through an exchange program I did in high school. Something I noticed through that experience was that a large number of the Spanish students I met had plans to either spend a year abroad during their high school years or study in the US for college. It seemed to be more common to spend large periods of time in other countries and to learn multiple languages. The class presentation supported this idea, as he discussed a variety of low-cost or free programs that supported young people’s ability to live abroad in a large selection of countries. As someone who values international experiences, I have tried to find my own ways to make them happen for myself within an education system that doesn’t assume its students will spend lots of time abroad.
