Study abroad opens doors to cultural immersion and career insights for Purdue HHS students

Written By: Rebecca Hoffa, rhoffa@purdue.edu

Sarah Mull (left) and Caleb Siekwandy (right)(Photos provided)

From the rainforests of Costa Rica to the coastal cliffs of Ireland, students in the Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) have a variety of options to make the world their classroom through study abroad. Fresh off their own summer study abroad excursions, HHS students Sarah Mull and Caleb Siekwandy reflect on their experiences and takeaways.

First flight, lasting impact

Mull (right) poses with her study abroad group in Costa Rica.(Photo provided)

Mull traveled to Costa Rica in May as part of Department of Human Development and Family Sciences associate professor Zoe Taylor’s Costa Rican Culture, Families, and Health program, taking her first-ever flight out of the country. Mull noted the experience allowed her to immerse herself in day-to-day life in Costa Rica.

“That was a really special way to see Costa Rica because I feel like if I went there on vacation, you only see so much when you’re traveling somewhere as a tourist, but we got to really see the community and see the culture,” Mull said. “We also got to do a home stay for a week, and that invited us to see what family life was like in Costa Rica, so that was really amazing.”

For Mull, one of the most important things about studying abroad is being open to new experiences and making the most of it. Because of this, Mull said she really took advantage of making connections with her host family.

“The first day, I saw my host family’s 7-year-old boy sitting on the couch looking kind of bored, and I thought, ‘OK, I could go back to my room and do nothing, but what I think I should really do is step out and ask him to play a card game with me,’” Mull said. “That made him light up and want to play with me the rest of the week. It really set the tone for me being there to connect and learn from them.”

Acknowledging the opportunity to study abroad in college only comes during these four years, Mull said the callout to go abroad came at the perfect time before entering her final year at Purdue studying human services.  

“I knew I wanted the once-in-a-lifetime experience to do a study abroad, and I was going into my senior year, plus it fit a credit for school,” Mull said. “It was a really cool way to move my path along while getting these amazing experiences.”

As she prepares for a career in administration with a nonprofit or other organization, Mull explained having this cultural experience will stick with her as she works toward her goals.

“For my future career, I’ll definitely benefit so much from learning about another culture and even just using another language,” Mull said. “I’ve used some Spanish before, but it was really cool to be able to speak Spanish in a casual way. I definitely am interested in practicing more Spanish.”

Learning across the globe

Caleb Siekwandy poses for a photo on a boat in Ireland.(Photo provided)

A speech, language, and hearing sciences major, Siekwandy joined Department of Public Health and School of Health Sciences associate professor Ellen Wells’ Public Health in Ireland program to bring out the interdisciplinary nature of his major.

“Public health is really relevant to my major in the College of Health and Human Sciences,” Siekwandy said. “I was able to enhance my skills and see what the science and public health systems are like in another country.”

For Siekwandy, the experience allowed him to branch his mindset not only in a new discipline but also in a new culture. As Siekwandy’s first experience in Europe, he noted the opportunity to learn about Ireland’s approach to health was eye-opening.

“Each culture is different,” Siekwandy said. “We should enhance our cultural competence to avoid judging a culture without knowing more about it. One of the highlights of my experience in Ireland was seeing that the waiting time for getting health care service is a problem. Patients wait so long to get health care service.”

As an international student from Indonesia, Siekwandy values global learning, and he noted he always wanted to take advantage of the study abroad opportunities at Purdue to gain even more of a global perspective.

“Life is about always learning — it’s never too late to learn something new,” Siekwandy said. “When I’ve traveled to different countries, I’ve loved learning the culture and simple phrases of the language. It opens my mind to new ways of perceiving the world. Each culture has its own point of view toward certain conditions.”

With the goal of becoming a speech-language pathologist (SLP) in the future, Siekwandy noted he saw opportunities to potentially return to Ireland in the future and set up his future practice there. “It really opened my mind,” Siekwandy said. “I was talking to one of the professors in the Technology University of Dublin about job prospects for SLPs, and they said it’s very needed in Ireland. It’s not as common there as in the U.S. I was considering meeting that demand there. It’s really cool to have made connections in Ireland.”