Study Abroad Blog

It’s the weekend and you finished all your work and have the whole weekend to yourself. You think to yourself, “What can I do?” But you remember that you’re literally in Dubai - so it’s time to go exploring!

I have many different identities that I embrace and traveling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made me the most comfortable with almost all of them. I consider myself to be a Black, deaf woman and during my time in the UAE, I could be unapologetically me (for the most part). Although I was fortunate enough to study abroad twice during my time at RIT, I am able to reflect more about my experience in Dubai.

I knew pretty early on that studying abroad was something I wanted to do while in college. As a STEM major, I thought it would be interesting to gain a new perspective on my field and see how people from around the world approach scientific problems and develop applicable solutions. I also wanted to take the opportunity to travel before feeling tied down to a job after graduating.

One of the many perks of studying abroad is international travel. Depending on where you go, traveling from country to country can be as easy as a $12 bus ride. While studying abroad in Croatia, I decided to make the most out of my time there and took a trip one peninsula over to Italy. A couple of other students and I bought overnight bus tickets for Venice. The route was relatively simple: we would take one bus from Zagreb to Ljubljana, and then a second bus through the rest of Slovenia straight to Venice. I couldn’t have been more excited. 

My name is Marshall Hurst; I grew up in a tiny town named Vineland in Ontario, Canada. You might be wondering, "Where the heck is Vineland?" Vineland is only 17 minutes away from the Lewiston-Queenston Border to the United States. The cultures are pretty similar, just that we follow the metric system, have British-influenced words such as colour with the 'U.' Fascinating, eh?

My path to studying abroad was an interesting one to say the very least. My older brother years prior had studied in Sorrento, Italy. Since then I wanted to see different parts of the world and learn important lessons along the way. I wanted to throw myself in a radically different environment. I wanted to train myself to become adaptive and aware of how different things could be. In other words, I wanted a global mindset, and RIT was my opportunity to start that journey.

Identity - it’s what defines us, grounds us, and ultimately who we are. We each have a multitude of identities ranging from race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. While each of these identities play a significant role in who we are, I believe that race/ethnicity is the most apparent of them all. Unlike many of the other identities, you can’t escape the skin you live within. When encountering strangers in public, the first thing they see is my blackness.

When I made the decision to study abroad, it was a no-brainer where I wanted to go: New Zealand. Of course, my decision was heavily influenced by the picturesque nature of the country, including snow-capped mountains, endless opportunities for hiking (“tramping” to the locals), sprawling green pastures dotted with sheep and cows, and stunning natural beaches. However, the other major reason why I wanted to spend a semester abroad in New Zealand was because that is where my mother was born and raised.

I have been an out and proud lesbian since I was a sophomore in high school. I was in my schools’ gay-straight alliance. It hasn’t always been easy, but I was lucky enough to live in a relatively accepting community and a very accepting family. I am not ignorant of how much privilege I have had growing up in my community and feeling accepted.