Overall Reflections on the Course

Greetings everyone! I hope this posting finds all of you well into enjoying your summer. I’m leaving Prague today to join my new classmates at the Leiden, Netherlands campus, where we’ll have a week-long study tour much like the one our class did here in Central Europe. I enjoyed everything about this class very much, and while I’m excited to join my next study group, I will miss this experience we shared, and I’ll always remember it!

It’s fitting that I write this as I leave today. Contrary to what you all might think, it hasn’t really been like a vacation to stay here an extra three weeks. I’ve seen the inside of my hotel room for most of the time, both because of the work I’ve been doing for my two summer classes and because I’m alone here, so going out is not as enjoyable. As much of a shame as that may sound, it makes me appreciate the wonderful time I had during the week we were all here together. Reflecting on it now makes me appreciate both the educational and cultural elements I experienced during this class even more. Here is a brief overview of what I’ve learned, and what I’ll take with me into my educational and professional careers.

It’s admittedly an unfair advantage that I’m still in Europe, but I must say that I’ve learned it takes at least two weeks to begin to really soak up the new culture. The week that our class experienced was a whirlwind of new sights, sounds, and tastes. Even now, I’m still dissecting our study-tour. As I do so, I’m realizing the profound effect the visits to the IOM in Prague and to the Webster Vienna campus had on me.

It really is invaluable to me that I’ve been privileged enough to meet professionals in the fields of migration and human trafficking studies because I want to go into these fields myself. By contacting the IOM office in Prague, I hope to start networking with these dedicated people to learn more about their fieldwork. I’ve become very interested in migration studies, especially in my current research area of human trafficking, and I will follow the work of the IOM to learn what professionals in the field are doing to address migration issues worldwide. I may even apply to work at an IOM field office for an internship or professional position when I start my career.

Likewise, learning about Webster Vienna’s involvement with human trafficking research is inspiring. I’ve been in contact with Dr. Weeks about my research in human trafficking, and he has put me in contact with a previous Webster scholar who is working on a doctorate in human trafficking studies at Kent. Opportunities to meet other researchers like this would not have been possible if it weren’t for this class, and I feel very grateful to Professors Hanssen and Tamashiro for planning this study-tour and introducing me to the wider world of global scholarship.

Overall, this class has been an eye opening start to a life changing experience. I’ve only just begun my study abroad journey, and I can’t think of a better start to it than I had in this class. As I prepare to go on studying human trafficking as a global issue at the next two Webster campuses, I know I’ve received a strong foundation in this class that I can build on with my ongoing research efforts. Aside from the academic aspect, the education I’m getting from being immersed in other cultures is dually invaluable to both my scholarly and personal growth. I will continue on from here with an open mind and a curious spirit, and I hope the rest of this journey will be even more wonder filled than the beginning.

Best wishes to you all!

-Jenn Lunney