My Adventure in Switzerland

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Judith Obregon

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Judith Obregon

<i>"Hello" in your host country's language:</i> Hola! <i>Home Institution (your U.S. University/College):</i> Georgetown University <i>Expected graduation year:</i> 2023 <i>Destination city & country:</i> Barcelona, Spain <i>Program provider:</i> Georgetown University <i>Major/minor:</i> Marketing & OPIM (Operations and Information Management) with minor in Entrepreneurship <i>Demographics:</i> Hispanic, Non-Traditional student, First Gen, Peruvian-American <i>Future career aspirations:</i> As a social activist with an entrepreneur mindset, I have many aspirations in life. I would like to work in the international development sector to reduce global poverty. Further in the future, I have a great commitment and dream of someday being a global enterprising woman and use business as a tool to create a better world. Indeed, I visualize myself as a person who will empower the powerless and reduce the barriers of inequality by creating a foundation that encourages STEM education to support low-income children, so that they can access quality education. I hope that the less favored children can grow up with a dream and know that people like me support their intellectual and personal development. I also believe that a cumulation of high-quality education, and activities will provide me with the optimal learning experience to make me eligible to succeed in my career goals. <i>Top 3 goals for your time abroad:</i> 1.-I would like to have a transformation in my personal and professional life by experiencing a different academic environment, gaining a global perspective, and challenging my own cultural frame. 2.-My main goal is acquiring the fundamentals to understand marketing strategies and their impact on the company’s performance, and how organizations operate, and determine the major opportunities and problems facing the organization accordingly. 3.-I would like to immerse myself in this beautiful culture and learn more about its rich history, art, food, and social norms.

Hi, world! My name is Judith Obregon, I am a current student at Virginia Tech in the U.S. I am studying Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Technology, and I am very excited to be part of the INSPIRE Program in Switzerland for this Spring 2023.

The legacy of Switzerland has played an important role in the European economy and is very rich in its culture. Therefore, I would like to immerse myself in a new country and learn more about the host culture that has one of the strongest economies, rich history, art, food, and social norms in Europe.

Also, I would like to experience a different academic environment, gain a global perspective, and challenge my own cultural frame. Today, as we live in a globalized world, I believe that this opportunity would help me develop a global mindset with soft skills and knowledge in leadership roles needed in the 21st century. Most importantly, this experience will teach me how to accept others no matter who they are as it is very crucial to maintain and respect cultural differences to live in a more inclusive and peaceful world.

In fact, studying in the INSPIRE Program in Switzerland will help me have a transformation in my personal and professional life by having high levels of flexibility, increasing cultural empathy, growing professionally as a globally-minded leader, and being a worthy U.S. student ambassador globally.

Through these experiences, I expect to develop as a multicultural student that can quickly integrate into new cultures. Substantially, I will be a highly valuable asset to any international organization and help my team to decode their cultural differences, coach them to be more cross-culturally flexible, and offer strategies to improve their effectiveness.

All these skills will help me open my career up to more of a global focus. I will also have more creativity and experience to thrive in any global innovation project and develop strong ethic value for a successful and rewarding future business career.

As a first-generation transfer college student, the INSPIRE Program in Switzerland will be a unique experience as it will contribute to my academic and professional development and make me stand out in my MBA Program and the current highly competitive and globalized labor market. I also believe that by attending the spring study abroad program, I will become a better woman leader, entrepreneur, and overall better-prepared businessperson. With this knowledge that I will receive here, I will be able to open the organization of my dreams, which is creating a global foundation that encourages STEM education to support low-income children so that they can access quality education, thus reducing the barriers of inequality.

Overall, I positively believe that this unique experience is the type of study abroad program that I would like to be part of to be a worthy representative of our American community and my nation.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to study abroad and I am excited to share with you more about my trip in Switzerland, I would like to invite you to follow me during my adventure in Switzerland.