Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

Alumni Ambassador

After Gilman: Finding strength and comfort in community

My name is Rachel Wong and I am a 2021 Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellow. I studied abroad at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea as a Fall 2017 Gilman Scholar. I also served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Yunlin County, Taiwan from 2019 to 2020. 

The vast network of Gilman scholars surprised me for the first time halfway across the world. Less than 24 hours after settling into my dorm room at Ewha Womans University, I learned that my roommate was coincidentally also a Gilman scholar. As the semester continued, I quickly became close friends with my roommate, Darlene, over late night chats about languages and politics. Seeing our friendship bud, I was eager to find other Gilman scholars studying in Seoul during the same semester. After a short post on the Gilman Scholars Facebook group, I made plans for a day trip outside of Seoul with Jacqueline, a Gilman scholar studying at Korea University. Over three years later, I still keep in touch with both of them and am so excited for the different career paths that we are all taking. 

Even after studying abroad and graduating from college, I continue to seek out Gilman alumni time and time again. Gilman alumni are very passionate about their work and values and often go out of their way to help Gilman scholars succeed. Besides bonding over a shared academic or regional interest, I find comfort in knowing that Gilman scholars share similar socioeconomic backgrounds. For many of us, we are the first in our families to navigate college, study abroad, and life after graduation. In every conversation I have with another Gilman alum, I have always felt seen and validated in my personal and professional struggles. I am continually grateful for this community and will pay it forward to future Gilman scholars.   

How did I network and meet others within the Gilman alumni community? 

Members of the Gilman alumni community are extremely accomplished. While I have not met all 33,000 plus Gilman scholars and alumni, I can say with confidence that there are successful Gilman alumni in every single career field. While many people use their college’s alumni network for networking, I really enjoyed connecting with others via the Gilman scholarship’s alumni network. I use the Gilman Scholar Network and LinkedIn regularly to find alumni pursuing careers that I find interesting and reach out for informational interviews. I love hearing about their different career paths and life lessons that they learned along the way. Gilman alumni have inspired me to consider various job positions, exposed me to new ideas, and gave me advice on graduate schools. 


My friends and I decided to hold an impromptu photoshoot on Ewha’s beautiful campus.

How did Gilman cause me to apply to Fulbright? 

My positive experiences with the overall Gilman community in addition to my academic interests led me to apply for another Department of State opportunity: Fulbright. While four months abroad in Seoul was an unforgettable experience, I felt that one semester was not enough to understand the culture and history that one place can offer. I wanted to build meaningful connections with locals and find a community abroad.

And I did. I spent one year living in a small township in Taiwan. During that time, I co-taught at two elementary schools, shared my identity as an Asian American, and learned about the agricultural lives that many local residents lead. I also witnessed Taiwan’s presidential election and its rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Fulbright experiences can differ greatly by country, I am confident that every Fulbrighter returns to the U.S. with a greater understanding of the country and themselves. 

Ask yourself these questions if you are considering Fulbright

  • Am I interested in immersing myself in another country and culture for a long duration of time?
  • Am I willing to dedicate time to educate myself on the local culture, language, and history before and during my Fulbright?
  • Will I thrive in an environment where I need to be flexible and go with the flow?
  • Will I make an effort to recognize my privilege as a foreigner and use it for intercultural dialogue?

At Fulbright Taiwan’s Midyear Conference, I represented my site, Yunlin County, and showed off our creative poster of the eight Fulbrighters posted there.

The Gilman Scholarship is only the first step towards understanding the world. Even after your time abroad, I hope you will continue to be an advocate for cultural exchange and share the importance of global citizenship.

Revisiting Studying the Language Learned at Home and Abroad

Guten tag! Hello, my name is Vlad Blazhievskiy and I am excited to serve as a Gilman Alumni Ambassador for the 2020-2021 Academic Year. Thanks to the Gilman Scholarship, I spent a semester studying abroad in Germany. In Germany, I continued learning the German language at the advanced level and completed several business courses at the Kathölische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. 


The group of international students who took part in the intensive German course at Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

German is the fourth language in which I am working to achieve fluency. At Nebraska Wesleyan (NWU), I continued studying German by minoring and completing five semesters on campus. When I studied abroad in Germany, I used German every day for four months and practiced it everywhere. I went from grocery stores to swimming pools and even to computer repair stores. During the semester, I also took two B level intensive language courses at the Katholische Universität-Eichstätt campus. To this day, those two high-level German courses were the most challenging language classes that I took during my undergraduate. A busy semester of studying the German language enabled me to advance my German fluency from B1 to B2.2 level and forever changed my connection to the German language.

Today, I would like to spend some time helping Gilmans find ways to practice the language that some of us learned or currently learning. I hope that some of these routines that I will share will be helpful. Learning other languages has many cognitive benefits and is essential for intercultural communication. Many of us also study the language for a purpose. That might be because one of us wants to live in that language’s country or use the language for a career. While I am aware that there are no opportunities to use my German at my current job, I would like to use the language years in my future career.

Not always a person consciously wants to study the language. Therefore, I will offer some non-burdensome and straightforward ways. These shortcuts have helped me maintain German at the achieved level without a significant investment of time.

  1. Speak the language a small amount per day
  • Speaking skills are usually lost faster than others, so take them at least 5-10 minutes a day. Do not know what to talk about? Make up a situation. Sometimes I tell myself about what bothers me (psychological relief will not hurt anyone), talk about the book I read, world news, or fashion. I also try to manage to find myself a companion to chat in German. Usually, it would be one of my friends I met in my study abroad semester. But, I have to admit, this is not so easy to do.

2. Determine which skill, besides speaking, you have the fastest weakening

  • This advice is not entirely practical, but it helps me prioritize correctly and determine what is worth spending more time. To understand this, I occasionally check my skills and see which part I made the most mistakes in (grammar, vocabulary, improper use of gender, etc.), and work harder with it.

3. Translate texts from the language you learned to English

  • Often, I try to find text on topics that interest me and translate it. Through this exercise, I always try to increase my vocabulary.

4. Read at night

  • Reading is one of the best ways to maintain good language skills. Sometimes, I come across familiar words, repeat them, and learn new vocabulary. To not perceive reading as a routine duty, I choose those books that would be a happy read in English. My routine lately has been 10-15 minutes to read in German during the day or 5-10 pages before bed.

5. Watch Movies and TV Shows

  • Don’t like to read? One other way I enjoy learning German is to watch a movie or a TV series. Watching content in its original language or with subtitles has been a practical method to learn a new language.

Whenever I am not studying or working, I take some of my free time to practice my German and remind myself about the hard work I put in while studying abroad on the Gilman Scholarship. These little routines can go a long way in practicing languages. Despite having graduated from the NWU, I frequently attend the German Coffee Hour, Kaffeestunde, to meet with my past German professors and current students who study German. I always strive to make new friendships, talk about my experience studying abroad or learning German, discuss the Gilman Scholarship, and encourage students to pursue study or intern abroad opportunities. Remember to practice your languages and please have fun doing it.

Tschüss! 

Herbert Hoover, Years of Compassion, and What it Means to be a Global Citizen.

My name is Alexander Elias Azar, and I am a Gilman Alumni Ambassador. I was an exchange bachelor’s student at KU Leuven in Belgium during my service trip. I studied political science and assorted historical topics during my studies.


The town of Leuven is an excellent place to learn and live in Europe. It has been a center of learning since the time of the Holy Roman Empire to the European Union today. I cycled through idyllic forests nestled in between castles and modern amenities. One plaza I found particularly surprising was called Herbert Hooverplein. Why is one of the busiest parts of the town named after the 31st President of the United States? The story behind Hoover’s crucial relationship with the Belgian people shook me to my core and made me reflect on the reason why I became a Gilman Scholar in the first place.

Herbert Hoover and his wife, Lou traveled extensively during their early life. Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer and traveled to Australia and China on expeditions. He was a natural entrepreneur and earned a fortune mining while gaining an appreciation for global perspectives. Lou Hoover became fluent in eight languages! The Hoover families’ experience living with people around the world prepared them for responding to the humanitarian crisis in Europe during World War One.


Belgium was devastated during WW1 and faced widespread starvation. The ongoing battles left many civilians without stable food supplies. In 1914, Herbert Hoover was tasked with repatriating hundreds of thousands of Americans stranded in Europe. Afterward, Hoover became the leader of the Commission for Relief in Belgium which was an NGO dedicated to stopping the famine. The CRB raised millions of dollars in aid without government intervention. The organization was able to help 10 million Europeans escape starvation during the War, especially in Belgium.


Herbert Hoover’s extraordinary humanitarian efforts exemplify the mission of the Gilman Scholarship. Congressman Benjamin A. Gilman said that Americans studying abroad is important because it helps them become contributors to the world, rather than spectators. I learned about my place in the global community by living together with a diverse group of people. I listened and asked questions to people about their backgrounds and how they shaped their perspective on the world. People have different types of lifestyles but we all embrace the universal goals of acceptance and kindness.

Being a Gilman Scholar is building bridges between your community and the country you live in. As someone who studied American history since childhood, I was amazed I learned about a part of our own history across the Atlantic Ocean! It demonstrates how every human is living in the same storybook, and the best chapters are written together. My Gilman experience has broadened my horizons, and I feel prepared to engage with people of different backgrounds and identities.

Photos

Herbert and Lou Hoover, they traveled extensively through Asia and became fluent in speaking Mandarin.
Hooverplein in Leuven Belgium to commemorate Hoover’s contributions to the nation.
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An example of the food being shipped from America to Belgians during famine relief efforts organized by Hoover.

 

Your Impact

My name is Sarah Geilman. I graduated from Brigham Young University in 2019 with a degree in Mandarin Chinese after spending 18 months in Taipei, Taiwan learning Mandarin as a missionary for my church. I also lived in China for 10 months while studying abroad at Nanjing University and completing an internship in Shanghai teaching underprivileged children as part of The Language Flagship Program. I was a Gilman scholar during my school year abroad in China from the fall of 2017 to the summer of 2018. 

One of the most common things I heard before studying abroad in China was the misconception that China was underdeveloped or developed. We see pictures of people living in the Chinese countryside with their conical hats tending their rice fields and think of it as underdeveloped. But with China’s booming economy and presence on the world stage, many believe it is a fully developed country, while in fact, China is still considered developing. While living in China for 10 months, I found this balance fascinating. I could go from city to city relatively inexpensively while traveling between 100-200 mph on a bullet train. I could rent a bike through an app on my phone and ride it around the city for under 1USD per ride. At the same time, many streets were filled with elderly people who made their living selling vegetables in little baskets on the side of the road, yet to pay for the vegetables, you could scan a QR code printed on a piece of paper that was stuck to a pole behind them. China is such a unique country with its immense technological advancements and social, economic, and other struggles. After living in China, the status of its development was much clearer.

Aside from correcting misconceptions, I have realized since returning home just how much my time abroad has impacted those around me. There have been little things (like translating random Chinese lines for friends that appear in TV shows and movies) but there have also been major things that have affected my family and those I interact with each day.

One of the biggest things I’ve been able to do is help teach my family, especially my husband and son, all about a language and culture that they knew very little about. I’ve been able to incorporate homemade Chinese food into the meals we eat. At bedtime, we sing songs and read books in English and Chinese. Although he is still young, I am doing my best to teach my son how to treat all people, and especially those who look and act differently than he does, with respect and kindness.

I have also been shocked by how many times my experience abroad has come into play in my everyday interactions. There have been numerous times while going about my daily life that I will come across people who either only speaks Chinese, or speak very little English, and I am able to translate for them or help them find what they need. For instance, at the grocery store about a year ago, I overheard a lady speaking with her daughter and noted that she was confused about how to purchase her produce. In China, most grocery stores have a stand in the produce section where a worker will weigh and bag up your produce for you so that the cashier only has to scan them and not weigh the items or type in the numerical code as we do here in the States. Because I had experienced this myself in China (and had been very confused the first time I tried to buy fruit in the check-out line only to be told I had to go back to the produce section), from the little bit of the conversation I overheard I immediately understood her confusion and was able to not only help her with what to do but do so in her own native tongue! I have also been surprised in our college town how many people I have met in our apartment complex who are from either Taiwan or China. I have not only been able to assist them through language and cultural barriers but also have had the opportunity to be their friend in a land that is so foreign to them. What a blessing it has been to help someone else simply by having an understanding of their language and culture. Do not underestimate what your time abroad can mean not only to you and your life but also to the many people you will come across now and in the future!

Más allá: More than Studying Abroad

¡Hola! Hello, my name is Madeline and I am honored to serve as a Gilman Alumni Ambassador for the 2020-21 Academic Year. I studied and interned abroad in Chiang Mai, Thailand, during the summer of 2019. There I learned conversational Thai, taught English at the Northern School for the Blind, and engaged in Organizational Behavior and Leadership courses.


Activity time with my third-grade class at the Northern School for the Blind.

Let’s be a little cliché: Studying abroad changed my life and it’ll change yours, too. 

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s dive into the why. I spent 10 weeks teaching, learning, growing, exploring, and adapting in a country 8,000 miles from my home. I left the States with enough space in my suitcase, literally and metaphorically, to return with more than I arrived with. I wanted to remain open-minded to this new chapter, so I said yes to almost everything. Insect on a stick as a snack? Sure. Climb up a sticky waterfall? Yes. Chat with a Monk? Why not? Visit a food market on train tracks? I’m there. This mentality helped my experience be that much more remarkable.

However, it’s not exactly what I experienced abroad that changed my life, but rather how I applied my experiences when I returned. See, you can learn a new language, new skills, and meet new people, but if you don’t apply it, you won’t grow. Now, a year after my program ended, I am a Gilman Alumni Ambassador, graduating senior at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a Talent Acquisition intern at Ball Aerospace. I owe it to my study abroad program, USAC, and the continuous support from the Gilman Scholarship Program for guiding me here. If you’ve thought about studying abroad, think more about what comes after than what happens during your program. Be prepared to change your path or be reassured of where you’re headed. Remain curious and say yes to learning opportunities.

The important note to make about studying abroad is: there is no right way to do it. Sure, there are suggestions and recommendations, but every single experience is different. Your journey with studying abroad could land you your dream job or maybe just a job in the middle of a global pandemic. It could challenge your cultural beliefs or strengthen your values. It could lead you to relocate or at least consider the option. The possibilities are endless and that is the reason why studying or interning abroad is so important.


Activity time with my third-grade class at the Northern School for the Blind.

Gilman: The river of everlasting resources

It’s as though the Gilman program never runs out of ways to spoil their students and alumni. Every newsletter is jam-packed with new events, opportunities, and advice. Each staff member you reach out to guides you on the right path. There’s a sense of community among the recipients, alumni, staff, and ambassadors. There are endless networking opportunities through the Gilman Scholar Network, LinkedIn, and Facebook group. The staff members are transparent and accessible.

From the outside looking in, I viewed the Gilman Program as only a way to finance my trip. Now, looking from within, I see it as much more than that. I have built amazing friendships, connected with professionals, and strengthened my communication and networking skills. The Gilman Scholarship Program is much more than a one-and-done resource, it is a lifetime supply of opportunities.

What Más Allá means to me

Más Allá means beyond, doing more than what is expected. I grew up with parents who go más allá. I grew up listening to stories of my dad leaving his violent country of El Salvador and surviving with almost no money, no knowledge of the language, and little to no connections. Now, as a self-made business owner, he continues to show me how he goes más allá. Naturally, as his firstborn, I inherited that trait.

Embracing the local culture through local temples was an integral part of my experience abroad.

As a first-generation, low-income student, I knew I could do more than what was expected of someone with my demographic. When I heard of the Gilman Scholarship program and its competitive nature, I was immediately drawn. Gilman is a program that has encouraged me to continue going más allá and I am incredibly humbled by the opportunity to represent it as a Gilman Alumni Ambassador.

¡Saludos!

Mastering Cultural Fluency

Hi everyone, my name is Katherine Cabrera and I am a senior at Florida International University majoring in Psychology. The Gilman Scholarship provided me with the means to study abroad in Surabaya, Indonesia last summer, 2019, hosted by Airlangga University. I am proud to be serving as a Gilman Alumni Ambassador for 2020-21.

 

Katherine Cabrera in Surabaya, Indonesia

I always emphasize cultural fluency whenever I mention my experience studying abroad in Indonesia. My professor, Dr. Lenaghan introduction to the skill of cultural fluency, and since then I have been working on mastering it. I remember having to rely on the universal language of smiling at people. Even with the language barrier, a smile can show respect, mutual understanding, and happiness to be in their company. Cultural fluency has so many levels and I just scratched the surface. I have invested in my skills coming back from my experience and incorporating them into everything I commit to. For example, mental health awareness while being culturally fluent has been a great way of learning how to be culturally competent. Living in the multicultural, multilingual, multi-religious city of Miami requires an open mind and respecting everyone. I knew I wanted to specialize in Community Psychology and work directly with the people in my community. I love working alongside people from all backgrounds and walks of life.

While in Indonesia, I learned that psychology has many different applications around the world. This inspired me to look into Community Psychology when I came back because I thought I would have more of an impact working with people in need. Studying/internship abroad allows students like me to explore these options while still in undergrad. I learned that so many universities around the world have international programs open to U.S students who are interested in studying or working in other countries. I have career goals of establishing my career in another country when I eventually pursue a Ph.D. in Community Psychology. Maybe I will be a Peer Specialist or something equivalent to that globally. A great part about the Gilman Scholarship is the community of Gilman Scholars all across the world, sharing their stories, opportunities available, and advice. It really made me look into options I had not thought about such as a Fulbright. I love being able to reach out to my Gilman Community and seeing how their experience with Gilman shaped their entire life.

Gilman Scholars have the resources to enhance their study abroad experience into whatever they shape it to. There is no need to limit yourself to your area of study, so go for that culinary study abroad program, an architecture program even if you are a biology major. My program was focused on multicultural communication and relations and I had the opportunity to integrate psychology into all of my projects for the course. I met students in Indonesia majoring in psychology and shared those moments with them which have stuck with me even after a year later. As an undergrad, I really wanted to explore what was beyond my core classes, so taking an anthropology or sociology course really helped me mature my learning. I knew I wanted to take advantage of all my undergrad was offering and the Gilman community encourages the idea of always learning in all disciplines. I am grateful for the Gilman Scholarship which was my introduction to becoming a global citizen. I plan on pursuing more study abroad programs and hopefully working on my Ph.D in another country!

New knowledge + more self-awareness = ?

Hi everyone! My name is Rachel Wong and I’m a 2019 graduate of Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I majored in International Studies with minors in Geography and Asian Studies. As a Gilman Scholar, I studied abroad in Seoul, South Korea in Fall 2017 at Ewha Womans University. Following my college graduation, I served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan for an academic year. For 2020-2021, I am serving as one of the Gilman Scholarship’s Alumni Ambassadors. 

Alumni Ambassador Rachel Wong with fellow Gilman Scholar (photo by Rachel Wong)

Studying abroad in Seoul changed me in ways that I didn’t expect. I expected to gain knowledge of Korean history and politics, make new friends, and immerse myself in a new culture. I expected to get culture shock and miss the familiarities of home. I didn’t expect to become more conscious of my identity, and I definitely didn’t expect to stumble upon a career interest.

Inside the classroom

Coming from a small liberal arts college, I was suddenly offered a plethora of course offerings on every subject imaginable at one of the largest women’s higher education institutions in the world, Ewha Womans University. I have always wanted to take courses on East Asia; as a result, I purposefully took courses that highlighted Korean history and East Asian geopolitics at Ewha. 

Throughout the semester, I read about Korea under Japanese occupation and, later, martial law, the chaebol influence on the Korean economy, and the collective clout that the Four Asian Tigers had in Asia. Looking back, I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from Korean scholars, reading articles, and literature by East Asian academics. The coursework exposed me to knowledge that I might not have encountered back at my home institution. Little did I know then that my academic interests would shape my professional interests as well. 

A closer look inward

Besides understanding Korea and East Asia better academically, I also understood my own identity and personality better outside the classroom. Moving to Korea for 4.5 months for a direct enrollment program and not knowing anyone was extremely daunting. I had to step outside my comfort zone and be independent. This was difficult for me; I don’t like to stand out as a tourist, so I did extra research whenever I navigated the Seoul Metro system alone. I memorized subway lines and remembered directions before every trip. Eventually, I got to a point where I felt confident enough to go places without the additional prep time. So, I met up with another Gilman Scholar in Seoul for a short day trip outside of Seoul. Later, I even joined a group tour to the DMZ, where I was able to see North Korea with my own eyes across the Panmunjom. 

DMZ South Korea (photo by Rachel Wong)

In addition to being comfortable with independence, I constantly tried to interact with people that hold different opinions. My home institution can sometimes act as an echo chamber, and being at Ewha exposed me to other students who don’t necessarily share the same values or views as I do. Through different interactions, I learned to listen to others and communicate my opinions in an effective manner. Genuine dialogue doesn’t happen when both parties disagree and argue; it happens when both parties are open-minded and respected.  

New knowledge + more self-awareness =? 

I remember leaving Korea with a newfound understanding of myself and my new skills. I also remember leaving Korea with a sense of confusion. I’ve gained all this new insight, now what? For the majority of my college years, I struggled with finding my career interests. I jumped from considering academia to consulting to economics before even setting foot on Ewha’s campus as a junior. In the middle of my transcontinental flight, I realized that my interest in East Asia, my immigrant background, and my belief in global citizenship all points to a potential career in international affairs. 

I know for a fact that international experiences are more valuable than what it appears to offer on the surface. An opportunity to travel is an opportunity to learn about lifestyles different from my own. An opportunity to study in a different institution is an opportunity to learn from local scholars and experts. While I originally thought receiving the Gilman Scholarship was my goal for studying abroad, it turns out that the Gilman was only my first stepping stone in reaching my full potential professionally.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS

The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and supported in its implementation by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

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