Study Abroad to Africa!!!
Donation protected
Hi! My name is Amber Tatro and I am a 22 year old senior at the University of Oklahoma. I will graduate in May with my Bachelor's degree in Psychology and will be going on to graduate school in the fall for a counseling degree. This summer, I've been presented with the opportunity to study abroad in Tanzania in Africa! I will be travelling with a group of OU students and faculty and we will be completing two social work classes as well as a social service project over the span of three weeks that we are there. We will also be going on a safari, a spice tour, and a boat ride between cities!
This trip is important to me because to start with, it is a program that is focused on social welfare in an area of Africa that is not as well-off as my own country. I know very little about this area of Africa but I am eager to learn and help in any way that I can while completing the social welfare project. Another reason that I am interested in this program is that I am a psychology major and I am very interested in social welfare and very excited about the two courses being offered while abroad. I plan to go to a graduate school counseling program and become a counselor for traumatized and grief-stricken youth. I believe that this study abroad experience will help to broaden my horizons and will make me a better counselor in the long run because I will have a better understanding of social issues of the underprivileged and I will have experience working with people who I previously had no experience with.
This program will also give me experience with a culture other than my own, which I have never done before as I have never had an opportunity to travel anywhere other than Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas (and Alabama, where I was born, but moved away from as an infant). I also believe that it is very important to study abroad and expand your worldviews in order to become a more complete person. The last reasons that I have to study abroad are purely selfish reasons: a study abroad experience will please both my graduate school and my future employers; and I really very much want to travel the world and have new experiences because seeing the world has been at the top of my to-do list for my whole life and while traveling to Africa will not be seeing the whole world, it is a very fine place to start.
My two goals for this trip to Tanzania are: 1. to experience a new culture, 2. to get out of my comfort zone and do something amazing. These goals will vary on their difficulty to accomplish, with experiencing a new culture being the least difficult (as all I have to do is go and experience) and leaving my comfort zone being the most difficult. I am a very shy, reserved person and it is very difficult for me to do a lot of things like make new friends and have fun, but with the help of the friends I do have, my family, and of course my therapist, I am making great changes in my life. These changes include taking chances and putting myself out there to experience new things and meet new people. I have made so much progress over the last few semesters in how open I am and I believe that this trip to Tanzania will only help me to grow and be better. I believe that the social welfare service project that we will complete will give me an opportunity to do something outstanding for the world and will even lead me in a new direction in my life for doing those kinds of things everywhere that I go. I think that with a lot of effort I will be able to do great things if given the opportunity.
One challenge that I expect to face is that I have never flown on a plane before and I am terrified at the prospect of travelling at all, let alone so far away from the near and dear. However, I am also exhilarated by the idea and expect that this will be the easiest challenge to overcome, simply by gritting my teeth and not looking down (I have a terrible fear of heights). Another challenge, that I expect will be a bit harder to deal with than a simple fear of flying, is that I will be surrounded with people who speak a different language than I do. This too, however, is a little exciting. It will give me an opportunity to learn something new and experience a whole new way of living.
A third challenge that I will be faced with is saying goodbye to all of the new and amazing people I intend to meet at the end of the trip. I am a pretty emotional person and I expect attachments will be formed, but I'm sure I will be able to stay in touch with these people and it will be good practice for later in life when I am a counselor and have to say goodbye to patients at the end of my service to them. I am in a practicum right now in which I will be expected to say goodbye to my assigned patient at the end of the semester and never see them again. I am also a volunteer at a grief support center where I am a facilitator for support groups for children ages 3-5 and at the end of our 16 week program, I will never see these people again however attached I might be. So, this separation will not be nearly as painful as others I will have experienced because I will not have known the people for as long and will not be as attached, and because if it is allowed and possible we may be able to stay in touch which is rare for a psychologist. As long as I keep things in perspective, I will be able to overcome this challenge just fine.
I am trying to raise $8600 dollars to make this trip possible and any help that you can provide would help to make this dream possible. Here is the breakdown of the costs for the trip:
1. OU Tuition & Fees - normal in-state or out-of-state rate: $1735
2. Program Fee - $3650 (includes housing, in-country travel, and most meals)
1st payment = $500 nonrefundable deposit
2nd payment = $1575 due March 13th, 2015
3rd payment = $1575 due April 10th, 2015
3. Airfare - ~$2300
4. Visa - ~$300
5. Education Abroad Application Fee - $35
6. CMI (formerly FrontierMEDEX) Health & Travel Insurance - ~$40
Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
-Amber Tatro-
This trip is important to me because to start with, it is a program that is focused on social welfare in an area of Africa that is not as well-off as my own country. I know very little about this area of Africa but I am eager to learn and help in any way that I can while completing the social welfare project. Another reason that I am interested in this program is that I am a psychology major and I am very interested in social welfare and very excited about the two courses being offered while abroad. I plan to go to a graduate school counseling program and become a counselor for traumatized and grief-stricken youth. I believe that this study abroad experience will help to broaden my horizons and will make me a better counselor in the long run because I will have a better understanding of social issues of the underprivileged and I will have experience working with people who I previously had no experience with.
This program will also give me experience with a culture other than my own, which I have never done before as I have never had an opportunity to travel anywhere other than Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas (and Alabama, where I was born, but moved away from as an infant). I also believe that it is very important to study abroad and expand your worldviews in order to become a more complete person. The last reasons that I have to study abroad are purely selfish reasons: a study abroad experience will please both my graduate school and my future employers; and I really very much want to travel the world and have new experiences because seeing the world has been at the top of my to-do list for my whole life and while traveling to Africa will not be seeing the whole world, it is a very fine place to start.
My two goals for this trip to Tanzania are: 1. to experience a new culture, 2. to get out of my comfort zone and do something amazing. These goals will vary on their difficulty to accomplish, with experiencing a new culture being the least difficult (as all I have to do is go and experience) and leaving my comfort zone being the most difficult. I am a very shy, reserved person and it is very difficult for me to do a lot of things like make new friends and have fun, but with the help of the friends I do have, my family, and of course my therapist, I am making great changes in my life. These changes include taking chances and putting myself out there to experience new things and meet new people. I have made so much progress over the last few semesters in how open I am and I believe that this trip to Tanzania will only help me to grow and be better. I believe that the social welfare service project that we will complete will give me an opportunity to do something outstanding for the world and will even lead me in a new direction in my life for doing those kinds of things everywhere that I go. I think that with a lot of effort I will be able to do great things if given the opportunity.
One challenge that I expect to face is that I have never flown on a plane before and I am terrified at the prospect of travelling at all, let alone so far away from the near and dear. However, I am also exhilarated by the idea and expect that this will be the easiest challenge to overcome, simply by gritting my teeth and not looking down (I have a terrible fear of heights). Another challenge, that I expect will be a bit harder to deal with than a simple fear of flying, is that I will be surrounded with people who speak a different language than I do. This too, however, is a little exciting. It will give me an opportunity to learn something new and experience a whole new way of living.
A third challenge that I will be faced with is saying goodbye to all of the new and amazing people I intend to meet at the end of the trip. I am a pretty emotional person and I expect attachments will be formed, but I'm sure I will be able to stay in touch with these people and it will be good practice for later in life when I am a counselor and have to say goodbye to patients at the end of my service to them. I am in a practicum right now in which I will be expected to say goodbye to my assigned patient at the end of the semester and never see them again. I am also a volunteer at a grief support center where I am a facilitator for support groups for children ages 3-5 and at the end of our 16 week program, I will never see these people again however attached I might be. So, this separation will not be nearly as painful as others I will have experienced because I will not have known the people for as long and will not be as attached, and because if it is allowed and possible we may be able to stay in touch which is rare for a psychologist. As long as I keep things in perspective, I will be able to overcome this challenge just fine.
I am trying to raise $8600 dollars to make this trip possible and any help that you can provide would help to make this dream possible. Here is the breakdown of the costs for the trip:
1. OU Tuition & Fees - normal in-state or out-of-state rate: $1735
2. Program Fee - $3650 (includes housing, in-country travel, and most meals)
1st payment = $500 nonrefundable deposit
2nd payment = $1575 due March 13th, 2015
3rd payment = $1575 due April 10th, 2015
3. Airfare - ~$2300
4. Visa - ~$300
5. Education Abroad Application Fee - $35
6. CMI (formerly FrontierMEDEX) Health & Travel Insurance - ~$40
Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
-Amber Tatro-
Organizer
Amber Tatro
Organizer
Norman, OK