The view was worth it!
Author: Addison Guess | Major: Finance | Semester: Summer 2024
My summer abroad will probably be the most eventful and iconic summer that I’ll ever have. Since I have arrived back friends and family have asked me so many questions, but my answers can’t even begin to give them a grasp of how sensational my trip was. It was an amazing blend of impactful work, connecting with people on the island, and excursions! About 33% of Mauritians have diabetes which is wild considering the obesity rate is much lower than the US. Our project was to survey people about consumer willingness to buy aka if there were less risk for developing diabetes rice products on the market would people buy them or stick with what they know? To conduct this research, we would meet enumerators at different locations all over the island and survey people about their rice intake. Over the course of our work, we surveyed over 1100 people. Depending on the area we were in it was harder or easier to get people to stop their day and take the survey, but even with that challenge we far surpassed the initial goal of 500 surveys. As far as getting engaged in culture is concerned, that was an amazing part of the trip. We got connected with the US Embassy and were able to speak at events for students coming to the US. From there we met Mauritians that invited us into their homes. We also attended our professor’s brother’s wedding. I’m so thankful to say that leaving the island was so hard because of the friend group we made. We became fast friends with a group of foreign African students that were studying in Mauritius. We learned a lot about so many different countries from them. I’ll be the first to admit that the work I did wasn’t directly related to my field in finance, but being able to market myself as having international business experience is so valuable. I also experienced firsthand how being on an island affects economics, and what happens when your country’s currency becomes so inflated. This opportunity made me so much more open and excited about international opportunities. There’s so much to see in this world and so many people to meet and learn from and things to try. Prior to this trip my worldview was smaller and so was my vision for my future. My life plan was to get a good job, get married, and have kids but now I see more possibilities for myself. I plan to continue pursuing being a well rounded and engaged student whether that means I travel more for my education or on the side because if I’ve learned one thing from my time abroad it’s that the world is my oyster. I shouldn’t let my type A personality set me so hard down one niche path, I want to look around and see the options and the world. There isn’t only one path or even one definition of success.