Greece - Who Knew I Could Be a World Traveler?: Blair Hetherington, Food Science

I never for one day thought I'd be taking on what I did this semester. Never in my life have I been a big traveler besides what I could immediately walk to. I have always been more of a person who enjoys staying in the same area rather than venturing out, but low and behold this course jumped out right in front of me. I always thought I would be uncomfortable traveling so far and that I had so much keeping me home, but I was completely wrong. I decided to embark on this trip and learn a little more about myself.

Traveling to Greece was completely life changing. It was so interesting to see the different farm practices and crops in a new country. Yes agriculture is universal, but the way they do it is so fascinating. It really stuck out to me that the farmers line their fields with roses to see which pests are attacking their plants or going after them next. I thought that was intelligent and wished I lived in an area where roses could thrive like that. It was also interesting to see that they did not rely on dairy as much as our nation does and how a small olive can go so far. The fish market was another thing to see! Who knew fish could help support a family and that it could be so important in a diet. I feel like fishing is a lot easier than taking care of animals day in and day out. It is an easier profit and fascinating to see.

I really did gain a lot from this experience to impact the rest of my life. I learned teamwork in the cities of Greece. It is extremely difficult to survive in a country where you don't understand them and they really don't understand you. Many times the my fellow students and I had to work together to try and communicate to vendors and shop keepers in a manor they could understand without using English. Between hand motions and smiles, eventually we could get our point across to whomever we were trying to talk to. I also learned a lot about professionalism. I really did not think that was a big deal until having my experience in Greece. I have never seen a more relaxed, yet disorganized group of people before. It was frustrating how many people just were not on time for things or just let things go day by day with no plan. I feel the only way to be successful is to have a plan and not let things figure themselves out. It gave me a good lesson in patience and taught me the importance in being on time.

I am most excited to be able to place this experience on a resume because I'm sure I will get many questions over it. The one thing I really want to stress to a future employer is what I gained from this trip. I learned that there is no reason to stay at home and keep yourself from your dream. Just because you have a boyfriend or a family does not mean they should keep you from trying something new. I always thought I could not leave them and travel the world because I would miss them too much, but if I let them hold me back, I would not have taken this life changing experience. No one should ever turn down a chance to travel or go somewhere new with a job because, you never know what you could be keeping yourself from. I now know in the future that if a job wants me to travel or move somewhere else, there is no reason to say no and stay behind.