 My name is Ji Wei Xiao. I'm the chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Welcome, everyone. I'm very honored to be here to open this DML Alumni Korea panel tonight. It seems that the great British poet is wrong. He said, April is the cruelest month. But it turns out, March it. And thank you, guys, for making the second and successful attempt to come here. I feel very grateful to my colleague, the Italian professor, Sara Diaz, who has spent months trying to put together this wonderful panel. So I want to let us just give her a round of applause. She is the real hostess of tonight's show. I am also supposed to introduce our dean, Richard Greenwald. But he couldn't come. He has to go to a week. He sent his regrets. I want to let you know that he is a strong advocate for liberal arts education. And you know, one of the purpose of this panel is to get you guys to believe, to convince you guys of the worth and value of the liberal arts education. So let's do it. Thank you. Thank you, G. We appreciate that. More importantly, I want to thank everybody here for coming. This is an amazing turnout, perhaps a little bit too amazing. Let's hope no fire inspectors are in the area. But I'm very glad you could join us here for what promises to be an amazing panel with some really terrific panelists. My name is Sara Diaz. I teach all levels of Italian language here. And I coordinate the Italian language program. I'm also the faculty liaison for internships for the department. So if you are looking for an internship, you might come to me and then I might direct you to your specific faculty member to work with. I've also had the opportunity over the years to work with several student internships to mentor them in their internships. And I have seen personally firsthand how proficiency in a second language really gives students an edge in the labor market. It really gives you a tool that you could apply in any field. And I think each one of our panelists here is going to speak about how knowledge of a second or of a third language has really helped advance their careers. And I also imagine enrich their lives. Before beginning, I just need to give a quick thanks to the Department of Modern Languages for making this event possible, the Humanities Institute, Italian Studies, and the Faculty Committee on Public Lectures and Events for their support. Also, I would like to thank Alumni Relations and Kimberly Nicoletto at Academic and Career Development Center for their assistance. The format for today's panel is going to be very straightforward. Panelists will speak for about 10 minutes about how their experiences at Fairfield University and with modern languages in particular have prepared them for their professions. Presentations will be followed by a Q and A. And I do hope you'll stay a little longer, grab a bite, a cookie, and chat one-on-one with our speakers. They're all very nice, none of them bite. I'll now briefly introduce each panelist. And after that, I'll just turn it over to them. So it is I'll begin with someone who is my extreme pleasure to introduce because she's a former student, and that is Ali Famiglietti. Ali graduated from Fairfield University in 2014 with a double major in Italian and English education. After graduating, Ali moved to Italy to work as the program assistant for Fairfield's program in Florence, and later completed her master's in Italian at Middlebury's Italian campus. And her Italian is excellent. She is now a reservations executive at Perfetto Traveler. Next up is Sean Hassett. Sean graduated from Fairfield in 2010 with a double major in French and German and a minor in women's studies, which is very impressive. He studied both in Paris and in Heidelberg, Germany while at Fairfield, so keep this in mind. You don't have to study in just one country. Since graduating, Sean has served as the senior international sales specialist at Ulbricht Steel for seven years, where he uses both his French and German language skills to support clients in the special metals industry. Welcome, Sean. Our next up is Clevisa Kovachi. She graduated from Fairfield in 2014, majoring in international studies, politics, and French. She currently works as the operations coordinator of the Youth Assembly at the United Nations Friendship Ambassadors Foundation. I can't wait to hear all about that. She has engaged in, she has worked with international organizations in France, Indonesia, India, and China, and with UN Women in Kosovo and the permanent mission of Albania to the UN. So thanks for joining us. And last but certainly not least is Jennifer Rollinsen. Jennifer Rollinsen graduated from Fairfield University in 2001 with majors in international studies and Spanish. She went on to earn her master's in social work from Fordham University and earned her BSN in nursing from UConn. She is currently a registered nurse working at St. Vincent's Medical Center and also has been a preschool nurse consultant for six schools in the Fairfield County and currently works as a school nurse in Norwalk and Wilton Public Schools. This is also Jennifer's second visit to our alumni panel and I know there's a lot to look forward to here. Our last panelist on our program, Maria Zachary, couldn't make it tonight because of scheduling conflicts. With that, I turn it over to our distinguished panelists. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Ali. Thank you so much for coming. This is amazing to see so many people who are here. It just adds to everything that we're doing. So how many people just wondering have already studied in the country of their language? Okay. And then how many people want to study in the country of their language? Okay, all right. Pretty good, but I feel like everybody's hand should have been raised at some point but that's okay, we'll get there. And then just out of curiosity, I worked for the Fairfield Florence program after I graduated. Is there anybody here who went through the program or okay, one, wow, okay, cool, just good to know. Oh, okay, I can't see everyone. And can you hear me all right? Am I talking slow enough? Because I'm from Long Island so I tend to talk fast so just let me know. Okay, great. So I think that you guys saw the pamphlet but when I was a student at Fairfield, I think the most important thing was I was extremely involved here. I think that right now you need to be laying your foundation for everything that comes after because everything that happened after, I think once you graduate, at least for me, my experience has just been sort of like a tumbling into life and lots of unexpected things but I definitely felt that Fairfield prepared me for everything that I did after college. So that's really important. And also just wondering how many of you are upperclassmen, junior or seniors? Okay, so is everyone else a sophomore or freshman? Or you just don't want to raise your hands? Which, sorry, so a sophomore and freshman, I'm just curious. Okay, awesome, well it's great that everybody's here but it's really nice to see how many of you guys came. First of all, the fact that you came is just amazing so great, okay, good. So during my time at Fairfield, I was an English major and I was an Italian major. And then I was involved with peer mediation. I was a new student leader. I was an RA and then I also worked in study abroad and I was just, as you can tell, really excited about everything I was doing here because Fairfield was a great place but all these things that I did later turned into skills that I used in real life. So I think that if you haven't already started seeing which clubs are good for you and the ways that you want to get involved, start doing that now because Fairfield, it has so many resources that are available to you and you need to take advantage of those things. I know that people have been saying this to you since you arrived on campus but it's so real and if you leave and you didn't take advantage of these resources, that's on you. So get involved now, not to say that in a menacing way but I really mean it. But yeah, so that involvement was really important because and then on the other hand, you have the academics at Fairfield which will really prepare you for anything that you're gonna wanna do later. First of all, your language academics are gonna prepare you, you're gonna be at a higher level than most people graduating in a major so that's awesome. I personally did a master's in Italian after I graduated and that was, I felt so prepared, I felt so well prepared by Fairfield to take on the academics afterwards and I could just tell my classmates in the master's were also well prepared but I just had that sort of level of comfort that really let me excel later on and I think something for me that was really important was always taking advantage of my professors. I always was in Dr. Carlin's office when Professor Diaz is here, I was always there too so just use your professors, use your resources or do most of you do this already or yeah, cool, good. Okay, then, okay, so all of that was really important. Then how many of you studied abroad again already? Just wondering, okay, cool. That's obviously something that I hope is important to many of you if you're doing language, I really think that you should take advantage of Fairfield Study Abroad programs because they're there and I personally don't think that you can master a language unless you live in the country where that language is spoken so if you're really serious about this, definitely look more into Study Abroad. And then, okay, so after I graduated, I got a job with the Fairfield Florence program so Fairfield kindly employed me after I graduated and this was just such a good experience but because I got to use my language skills and I also got to use the skills that I was cultivating at Fairfield so that was just really important for me to take that next step and then also on the other hand, the reason I was employed at all when I graduated was because I had these language skills because I really wouldn't have gotten this job at all if I didn't have the skills to use them because when I was in Florence, I needed to be able to help students with lots of things. Whoever studied in Florence, you already know that you kind of need a lot of help from your program assistants, probably Lorenzo. So that was really important and then I did Fairfield, I also did Middlebury at the same time that I was the program assistant which was a challenge but it was something that I could take on because I was already well prepared. Does anybody have any questions at this point or I'll just keep going, okay. Yeah, yes. Yeah, sure, okay. So Middlebury is an excellent program just letting everybody know, again, if you're serious about your language of study, they have programs in almost every language. So it's either can be a summer, a year and a summer or you can do it in a summer and a year because Middlebury has you go, you have to do a total full immersion so you have to already be on the level to be able to do full immersion which again, Fairfield prepared me to be at that level so if you're here, you're probably already good for that for any master's program in a language and then Middlebury has you go to your country of study so since I was already in Florence, I'm sorry, I can't see you, since I was already in Florence, I just had my roots there and continued the program from Florence, Italy but doing one summer semester at Middlebury's campus in the US. Okay, no problem and thank you. Okay, so then we'll talk kind of a challenge that I had after Middlebury was that I still want to stay in Italy and I know that my experience is like pretty unique because I went straight abroad and I went into a job market in a different country so I ended up getting a work visa in Italy and I ended up taking a job that I just never expected to do which was teaching English for preschool and elementary school students and this is not what I imagined. I, if I thought I thought I would teach older people but it ended up being the best thing I ever did because first of all, I went to a town where I was one of two Americans and this was a town of 80,000 people which in Italy is considered a city and I also knew that I was studying in Florence and Florence is great but it's so international, there are so many Americans that you don't really use your Italian there but I wanted more which is something that I learned at Fairfield and sorry, if I'm going over. So I went to Busarizio, I taught children, the three-year-olds taught me Italian and that's how I mastered it but a lot of the time that I was there it wasn't without challenge. A lot, I spent probably the first four months convinced that I was going home every day because it was very lonely. I was now in this environment where I was totally by myself I didn't have my American comforts that I had in Florence. I didn't have the same access to making friends as I did but at the same time something just told me to stay and if I didn't stay I wouldn't be where I am now. So those types of full-emerging experiences are something that's just a little out of the box I really encourage you to take for you that might just mean studying abroad but you just have to kind of know that for yourself. And but when you have the opportunity do take it. So that was really important to me as well. Then sorry just checking my notes. I also don't think that you can be truly fluent in the language unless you fully immerse yourself in it so I would just keep that in mind and then since I was in Bustar Ciccio I was applying for jobs. I knew I wanted to come back to America but I also knew that I wanted to use my Italian. I wasn't willing to accept working in an office and doing a job that had nothing to do with what I had studied and what I had worked so hard to achieve. So I ended up finding just on the internet this position that let me move to Rome for the summer this past summer and then had me transfer back to New York in the fall. So I actually just moved back to New York in November and what got me that job which is reservations executive which is a really nice title at a travel company. So I do high end tourism for people who want to go to Italy which kind of after you heard everything that I studied sounds kind of perfect I think. But it's because I had my language skills and that's really everything. I mean a lot of my experience prepared me for this but when I interviewed with them the things that they found most impressive were my education and the fact that I was an American who could speak a foreign language because just to let you know like we don't really, not many of us exist. I know there are a lot of people in this room but like you are one of few people and you really need to be aware of that and take advantage of it while you can. So I think that's it. Thank you. You're welcome. Hello, my name is Sean. I graduated from Fairfield in 2010 with French and German as Professor Diaz said and most of that was not planned which is kind of a theme that continues throughout most of the rest of my life so far. But it's working out okay. So when I started at Fairfield I thought what I wanted to do was foreign language teacher education so I was gonna do French and that was gonna be fantastic. So that didn't work out which in retrospect I'm very happy about because I don't think that that would be a great environment for me at all, limited patients and things. But anyway. So you know I was taking French then all of a sudden I was like you know I should add another language too I should take German also. So I started taking German as well and then sort of made the decision to study abroad in both Paris and in Heidelberg, Germany which for me when I went to Paris that was sort of like and I don't wanna say easy but it was a lot easier because I already spoke French very well so it was pretty easy to acclimate and you know do whatever I had to do kind of thing. In Germany it was definitely a little more trials and tribulation full I guess you could say. By the time I'd gotten there I think I had forgotten almost every single word of German that I learned in basic German which led to a lot of fun experiences like you know talking to somebody at the dryer in the laundry room in the dorm that I was living in and she's asking you know this has been going on for a long time like is there something wrong with it and I wanted to agree with her but what I ended up saying was something like yes it is allowed to already be done yet and she sort of looked at me and was like yeah, okay. So you know so many things like that but I think that those are good things to happen because you know you kind of learn that whatever. You're gonna make a mistake, it's gonna be fine and you're gonna just move on with it and who cares if you know some random girl thinks that you don't know how to speak German because you don't, cause it's true so it's fine. So after that, thankfully through the time in Germany and the kind of immersion experience that you were talking about as well I picked up a little bit more and was actually able to tell her the next time that it was working fine. So following those experiences abroad and you know I didn't have any specific plan at all when I was looking you know starting to look out into the workforce for a job until you know randomly like just looking at things there were a few language kind of options that were appealing to me where I work now it's a steel company essentially based here in Connecticut and how does language and steel go together? Well that's something I had no clue about either. What it is basically is that you know I work in the international sales department of that company which it's pretty small it's only a few of us but you know they were looking for somebody that speaks French and who had had experience abroad and you know who also had a second language which for me was German which was another large sort of area that we do business in. So really the only reason that I had this job is because of the language skills that I had and the international traveling experience through the studying abroad and all of that. So I mean I guess that's yeah it was it's kind of funny even now because you know people always expect me to have some sort of like science-esque background like oh okay yeah do you know about material science I'm like no not really I know how to speak French but you know it turns out that's all you kind of need to start and then everything else it's you know you learn as you go just like you do when you're acquiring language skills. So yeah I mean definitely you know study abroad I think was a really impactful piece of my growth as a person. You know it just sort of teaches you regardless of how like miserable it may feel that you can't talk to anybody and you're saying everything wrong and everybody's lashing at you and all those things but you know you make it through and then you're at the other side and you're like good I'm glad I did that like I can manage a lot now like more than you thought anyway so yeah I mean and I can't really speak enough to about the language programs in department here at Fairfield I mean the support of all the teachers in the programs both while here and while studying abroad as well it yeah you really couldn't ask for anything more so definitely all the resources that you would ever need are available which is great there's so many fascinating experiences that you can open yourself up to through doing this and in my job now I still am able to go back to Europe I think I'll usually go like three-ish times a year back and forth and it's kind of funny now too because you know for me what I'm doing is I'm basically traveling around to like tiny little places that I would have had no idea existed you know just visiting customers and talking to people and sort of really connecting with people on that level of oh we speak the same language and then you know there's always like wow you're American and you speak French how do you do that that's great and it's you know it's like a little icebreaker kind of thing I guess and then things go pretty well and yeah I mean it's great so that's all I really have to say Hi guys I'm Clevisa thank you so much to the department and to Fairfield University for organizing this and inviting us it's always so exciting to be back and of course shout out to my French professors in the room and of course thank you guys for being here this was such an amazing crowd so while I was at Fairfield University I majored in French and in those courses with wonderful Dr. Goldfield and Dr. Artopoulos is where I really learned the mechanics and the theory of foreign language then when I studied abroad in Ex-improvence France that's where I got to put everything that I learned into practice and studying abroad really gave me the confidence to know that I could like be out there travel alone by myself and make it and that's something that would become very important for me later on. I was also president of French Club at some point and being involved with the clubs at Fairfield University really helped me to develop organizational skills and more cultural awareness so that's why that's my little advertisement for a French club and of course the other language clubs here. So after Fairfield University I did graduate school at Science Point Paris and Columbia University getting a dual master's in international affairs and development. Now what was required for my diplomas was that I had to prove proficiency in foreign language so be aware that if you do apply to graduate school afterwards it could be international business or international law you may be required to prove again your proficiency in language so it is important to keep it up. Afterwards I was an assistant teacher for French in France for a study of broad group of Americans and then a master teacher for Dartmouth College in China teaching English and of course these positions obviously required speaking French in France and even in China although I was teaching English what really helped is the fact that I had a background in foreign languages because the people hiring for this position were looking for people who had an understanding of language, grammar, mechanics and some sort of pedagogy that went with that. At some point I ended up doing an internship with UN Women in Kosovo and I am pretty sure part of the reason why I got that position and the position with the permanent mission of Albania to the UN is because of my Albanian skills. Literally it said in the job posting that they prefer people who spoke local languages and for Kosovo that was Serbian or Albanian and I had Albanian and it's extremely important that you're able to speak the language because in addition to getting your professional work done it'll help you connect with the people on a much deeper, much more meaningful level and you'll really realize that when you're out on the field and you can actually understand what people are saying but the other UN staff don't. At some point I also did a consultancy in Indonesia like a seven month project and did a very short term project in India. Now here I was working through interpreters for part of the time and one thing I have to point out here is that if you don't speak the language on the ground you're gonna experience exactly what, we've all experienced at some point that you're not quite getting what's going on and even though we work through wonderful translators and interpreters they perform really high quality work for us it's not the same as being able to connect one on one with the people there. Even if you have just a basic understanding of the language at least you'll be able to understand where the discussions are going that you're sort of on the right track. So that's what I have to say about working through translators. Currently I'm working as the operations coordinator of the Youth Assembly of the United Nations. If some of you guys have heard about it it's a program that takes place in the UN. We bring together about 1,000 young people ages 16 to 28 but we have some older and they gather in the United Nations headquarters to engage in discussions and taking action for the sustainable development goals and sustaining peace. So a lot of international development jargon there but it's quite interesting for me. So in my job I don't use foreign language a lot. We do have delegations that are coming from Haiti or from Francophone Africa so sometimes I'll be able to speak with them in French. On my last day of the conference I met somebody who was Albanian and that was really exciting for me. So I got my Albanian on. So the last part of my five minutes or however much I have left I wanna give some tips to you guys for how you can engage with foreign language on different levels. So as I see it there about three levels in how you can engage with foreign language. One is like tier one top professional level. If you wanna work in the World Bank the United Nations International Rescue Committee save the children any of these organizations that do international work and they have field offices all over the world you absolutely must be able to have a very high level of proficiency of languages and not just one language but the profile of these sorts of people like UN staff they're all fluent almost always fluent in at least three languages usually four or five languages so you do need to be like at the top level of your foreign language because you'll be using the foreign language with clients, with partners, in meetings it has to be like really top level and the way that you can achieve that level is obviously by studying abroad and speaking a different language please don't study abroad in London or anywhere, Anglophone, sorry. But also do be strategic about where you study abroad. So if you want to work in international development and poverty alleviation you want to prove that you can work and function in a developing country or in a post-conflict country that means going to Senegal looks much more impressive than going to Paris. If on the other hand you wanna work with international business or the luxury goods industry then going to Milan, Paris or Florence will be really great for you. So the second level in which you can engage with foreign language is a little less intensive is you can do tutoring or translating on your own and who doesn't need some extra money on the side. So I did that for a bit and it was very helpful. It's a good experience for you and it's something that you can do even without having a really, really top level of your language. So I highly recommend that's one way and it looks really good on your resume as well. It's a good experience. And finally, the third level is you have some understanding of foreign language in which you can engage with people for fun or just kind of on the side. So you can speak with friends in different languages when you go to different countries it's always much more fun, much more interesting to connect with people on a personal level even though you're not conducting business. For me, this past few times that I was in New York City somehow I always ended up with an Uber driver that was from Francophone, Africa. So the whole ride we would speak in French and it was really interesting for me to learn about their background and their experience in their country and in New York City. And finally, foreign language is really good for your brain really words of Alzheimer's so it's good to have. And I wanna finish by saying that this is a very competitive job market that we're living in probably the most competitive despite getting through the recession with thousands of people graduating with really high qualifications you need to be able to set yourself apart. And foreign language is one of those things that will open many doors for you. So especially here, I have to say this especially here where we are in Northeastern United States, the job market no matter what industry you're in tends to be very structured, very rigid and saturated. So you definitely want to have like your eighths cards and foreign language can definitely be one of those. So knowing all this and hearing from everybody here I hope you guys will be able to use language and really leverage them to put yourself to put your best self forward on the job market after. Thank you. Hi, good evening, thank you. Thank you again for having me. So I was just thinking of when I was here at Fairfield and probably sitting in the same seats you all are sitting in. And I heard your thank you for your introduction and I'm thinking like, who are you talking about? And then I'm like, oh, she's talking about me. I never would have thought that I would be, have a master's in social work that I'd be a nurse speaking Spanish. I just never thought it would turn out that way but I am so happy that it's turned out that way. The reason I mention that is because I think when I was a freshman in a sophomore I did not have a real distinct career path. I think a lot of my friends did. I had a lot of friends who were business majors, accounting majors, sciences and they had very clear paths for what they wanted to do. They knew what they wanted to be and where they wanted to end up. And I didn't really have that. And I knew that as an underclassman someone who really needed to develop more of a path that I wanted to follow and do what I liked. And that was foreign language. Dr. Farrell and I have been friends since we were 12. So seventh grade is when we met and we both sort of pursued the same level of foreign language and of Spanish particularly. Excuse me. So again, I was just following what I loved, doing what I loved and I figured, I hope this will work out. I don't really see where I'm gonna go with this but I'm just gonna continue to do what I'm passionate about and I felt pretty secure that it would work out in the end. So when I was at Fairfield I did study abroad. We've had a lot of discussion about studying abroad and yes, it's so invaluable. It's so important, it's so helpful and it's really important to be living outside of your comfort zone. So it really does push you to learn and do things that you wouldn't typically do and only you are gonna benefit from that. I also did a mission trip through the chapel to Mexico which again, helped me learn about different cultures, really got me involved with the community and also gave me an opportunity to practice language again. I think what really, kind of looking back and it really impacted me the most was my working with Head Start. I don't know if they are still active in the community they are. It was my job on campus, well on campus, but not on campus, where I was going over to Bridgeport and I was working in some of the schools there and I just was so impacted by the inequality and they were so close to Fairfield yet they felt like I felt like I was in another world and so it was so important to me to learn more about that and become more impactful in their community and their culture which of course in other language is incredibly useful in doing that. So when I graduated from Fairfield and I was looking for jobs, again, I was kind of looking for jobs online, I knew I wanted to be in New York and I saw a job for work in a foster care agency and I thought, well, I worked with kids, let's try it. So I had interviewed with them and they said, oh, I see you speak Spanish and I said, well, yes. And they said, great, you're gonna be our bilingual case worker and I thought, okay, great, let's try this out and again, it was beyond my comfort zone, I was really thrust into a lot of work that I was not familiar with but again, it forced me to kind of step up and to push myself to learn and to do more. So with that being said, I did go to grad school and I did get my master's in social work because I did enjoy the work so much and I did feel that I wanted to do more. So I pursued that and ended up working for many years at a children's law firm in New York City which was incredible. Doing custody, visitation, cases, foster care cases in all the courts and all the boroughs and being able to speak another language in that sort of setting is really incredible. I mean, speaking with foster youth, foster parents, all sorts of families and all sorts of different situations, many of which were speaking a foreign language. So being able to speak Spanish and really being able to impact their lives and improve their lives and really, especially on behalf of children, was like so incredibly rewarding and it was something I loved doing. And then I went on, then I went on to nursing school and a lot of people would say, like, why did you leave social work and you didn't like it and what was wrong with it and absolutely nothing was wrong with it. I just felt like I wanted to do more and I wanted to give more specifically to vulnerable populations. So that's what I did and I became a nurse and I started working in lots of different areas and I ended up, I've been working in the hospital for many years at this point and being able to work again as a frontline worker as a nurse with vulnerable populations being patients, of course, and having another language just adds more to what I can offer my patients. We've got, I work in Bridgeport, which of course is an urban setting, a lot of Spanish-speaking patients and families. I worked in family birthing, which is very emotional, it's very intense and being able to speak another language with these patients is so incredibly important. One story that I shared last time I was here on the panel was one day I was heading home, I had already changed, I was in my street clothes and I heard the sounds of something that we call a precipitous labor. Are there any nurses here? There are a few, okay, hi guys. So precipitous labor is when someone's giving labor and it's imminent, it's gonna be really incredibly quick and all of the emotions and discomforts that go along with that. So I'm kind of getting ready to leave and I hear this going on and I turn and I see there's a machine called a Marty machine, which is a, basically it's like a computer, it's kind of like FaceTime, but you FaceTime with a translator and it could be any language. So I see the Marty getting rolled down the hall and someone screams, the Marty's broken and I kind of poke my head and I say, hey, what's going on? And they said this patient, she's about to deliver, she doesn't speak English, she doesn't have anyone with her. The Marty's broken and we don't know what to do. We stay here with us. And I was one of two Spanish speakers on the floor in totality. So I said, well, sure. And to be able to be there with her through that and to be able to experience, communicating with this young lady who was scared, nervous, in pain, didn't know what to expect and alone was incredible. To be able to guide and coach her through that and see her baby safely delivered and her happy and in her safe and healthy, of course, was incredible. The doctor, once I kind of said like, okay, I'm kind of done here. He said, well, I could have done that without you. And I said, but she couldn't have. She couldn't have, so. So, no, that's it. So, not, you know, doctors can be wonderful, but nurses are better. And, you know, nurses are really there for the patients as are the doctors, but really the patients are paramount. And, you know, he had nothing to say to that. And I kind of turned around and I was like, okay, you know, my shift is over and I'm just gonna go home now. And, you know, all was well and good. So, you know, I was asked of course, and I think we've all touched upon it, you know, do you have more job opportunities speaking another language? Of course you do. I was in an interview last week or two weeks ago and, you know, I came in and they said, the first thing they said to me was, well, I see you're a social worker, you're a nurse and you speak Spanish. And I said, yes. And I interviewed and I think maybe less than three hours later they were calling saying, you know, we want you for this job. So, you know, I'm, it's, you know, I can't say for what exactly, which particular part of the background they were most interested in, but it certainly helps complete the package. And I think that it certainly, as you have mentioned, you know, it raises your level of, or the ability, the abilities that you have to do your job. And it makes you more, you know, well-rounded, more desirable, and I think more effective. They did, my current supervisor did go to bat for me to negotiate salary given the language skills and other skills as well. So it is going to help you and further your career. And in my case, you know, it helps me help my patients. So I think they, at the end of the day, you know, they win. You know, they're the ones that benefit from this. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I too was in your shoes, I was too was in your seat. If I had ever imagined listening to myself, I wouldn't believe it because I really didn't know what I wanted to do. But I did believe that if I did what I loved that everything would work out and I'd be happy. And I am happy to report that that is true. So I'm very pleased. I love what I do. Every day is different. Every day is a challenge. I'm always learning. I love my students. I love my patients. I really appreciate the flexibility of what I do and what I have. I never thought that flexibility would be so important. But as I age, I realize that it is. So follow your heart. Do what you love. And I wish you all lots of luck. Do you have any questions from our panelists? I think, actually, a lot of it I lucked out with through study abroad requirements. I think that a lot of the classes I took in Germany counted towards my German major. I think, actually, originally I had only planned to minor in German. But through whatever miraculous happening, there were enough credits that I could actually make it a major coming back and taking another class or two classes, whatever it was. So yeah, so definitely if you do go at least at the time that I was there, there was a lot of flexibility and a lot of assistance to try to make sure that if you want to do this, then more power to you can do it. And Fairfield definitely worked with me to make everything work out smoothly on that end, for sure. Can I respond? I was an English education major. So first I came to Fairfield and was like, I'm going to teach English at high school after I graduate. And then as I went through, I was like, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go to law school. And that is the last place I see myself ending up now. So it's just really funny because as I was going through, I took the LSAT as a senior. And I remember talking to Dr. Carolyn. And I just had this horrible feeling while I was taking the LSAT, like why am I doing this? This is not worth my time. And then at the same time, I was working in study abroad just for fun, because we never know what could happen. And they approached me and said, we have an opening at the Fairfield Florence program, which it's something I said I would never do. And I was in Florence. I was like, never, I'll never do this job. And then I was like, yeah, that sounds better than this. So I ended up there. So yeah, I think that anything could really happen. Yeah, I could say something about that, too, I guess. I for a while really thought that I was going to go back to school to pursue a doctorate in foreign language and probably in French media literature or something like that. But getting into senior year and after studying abroad, I just saw that OK, that could still be well and great at some point, but now was not the time. I really just wanted to be out there and be doing things. And not to say that there's anything wrong with going immediately into school if you have that discipline and you're able to do that, that's fantastic. But I think the important takeaway that I had from that is regardless of whether I decided to continue and try to go back to school and do all of those things or not, there were still opportunities for me based on the language skills that I acquired here. I think with just a tip, what's really helpful, you go into Fairfield University having some sort of idea of what you want to do and sometimes you change, even if you're very irresolute, you know exactly what you want to do. You might find yourself still adding things or changing them, that's what happened with me. But what's very helpful, I think, a good tip for you guys is to do some real industry research. So whatever it is that you want to work, part of the reason why so many people change their minds is because they don't know enough about their field or their type of work. So if you want to avoid that or you want to be as direct as possible, do a lot of deep industry research. What I mean is network with people whose job you like, who you want to have a job like that. Ask them what it took together, ask them what their daily life looks like. Literally go on Google and look up what it takes. I also recommend looking up different job positions that are open that you would want to see yourself in 10 years, because it'll give you a really good idea of what qualifications would be needed. And then that way you could work teleologically. You have this goal and then you know what steps it would take to get you there. So I'm saying this because a lot of people, they're just going to call it saying, I don't really know what I want to do. And by the time it's time to apply for jobs, your thinking might not quite match the reality or you may think you know what practicing law means until you actually try it out. So do a lot of research. Talk to people, network to find out more, look up different positions and also try them out through internships. Internships while studying abroad. Did the rest of you also do internships studying abroad? Or was that, because you have that experience as the program director as well as having had an internship studying abroad. So I studied abroad, I actually studied abroad in Florence when I was a student and while I was there, the program offered an internship opportunity. So I think it also, someone asked a question about combining majors and making that all work. So I taught English in an elementary school when I was studying abroad as my internship, which let me get credit for my English major, for my Italian major and then also that was like a capstone of some sort at some point. So that experience was just what set my study abroad apart from basically everyone else that was studying abroad but also for myself, it made me realize that I wanted to be a lot more immersed in Italian culture. And then also when you actually go abroad, make sure you ask your professors and the program that you apply to if this is an opportunity because I don't think you should leave the country that you study in without having an internship experience. Most of the Fairfield programs do offer this. I'm like 95% sure. And was there anything else I should speak to? Okay. That's a tough one, it's a bit philosophical almost. Well it's the, I did a philosophy minor so just bear with me to understand and to grasp reality as it is. We use language as a medium to communicate it. And so therefore the more languages you know, the better you are able to describe and to communicate with other people and to connect with other people. There are certain things for example, like certain words, certain concepts that I think of in Albanian. I'm sitting with somebody and I'm trying to explain but they're not getting it. I can only say it in Albanian or French or whatever it is. So it helps you express a part of yourself that might not otherwise be as easily accessible or as easily possible. That makes any sense? I also think like I mentioned, you know it also makes you live outside of your comfort zone and it makes you a little uncomfortable which is important for growth of course. But you know I think of, you know for example, working in the hospital and working with patients again that are so incredibly vulnerable in a very you know open sort of relationship with me as the nurse and they're uncomfortable. You know so I understand that discomfort having you know learned another language and they may not speak English or maybe they do a little bit but they don't want to because they're nervous and they don't think they speak it well. So I think like you had mentioned it makes you connect and communicate and really understand in my experience your patients much better than for example using a Marty computer system to communicate with them. And you know I know I can say I understand how it is to feel uncomfortable and you know in a surrounding that's not comfortable to me thinking of studying abroad and now here I have a patient who may be from South America for example they're uncomfortable and they're having the same experience as I did to some extent. So I would say that it also you know really can create a relationship with the person you're working with that goes beyond just language. Just to kind of add to that I think another thing you know that discomfort is really a great tool to use especially to reflect on you know what you would perceive perhaps as you know normal or like you know your idea of the world and it really kind of helps you see like okay like I am so uncomfortable with this or like all of this stuff is happening but you know you can really appreciate it and you can really appreciate you know sort of what you have and as well as you know really opening your mind to new experiences and opportunities and just kind of learn to say okay you know what it's gonna be fine like things happen and it's okay. One quick thing that I wanna add into what you were saying is that it helps you build connections and that is very very crucial because in other parts of the world especially in the developing world there are not a lot of people who speak English or Anglophones who speak the local languages so if you do speak the local languages you have already taken down one barrier that's a wall between you and the people there and so the people there will trust you a lot more it helps to build trust even if it's a business meeting you wanna do a negotiation and it's gonna be in English the fact that you can speak the language of your partner or the party that you're negotiating with already puts you at a huge advantage like I've seen this happen in practice so it really helps you connect and build a trust that only you would have and the people around you the other Americans around you won't be able to get that. Yeah I definitely agree and a lot of the meetings that you know we have overseas and things like going in speaking French like definitely you can get a lot further than you can than you could if you did not have that and definitely. I'm just gonna add one thing which is I think the struggle of learning a language is what makes it worth it to begin with. I wasn't lucky enough to be born bilingual it's something I'm always very jealous of other people for but I think that because I had to do this myself it just, first of all I got to know a side of myself that I never would have known if I didn't take this on and then also just to put it shortly once you are the only person in an eye hospital in Rome who can translate for somebody whose eye is about to fall out and you're like holding that person's hand and the only person that can tell them what the doctor is saying in Italian you grow also I mean she was fine and she got the care that she needed but those are the types of moments that change who you are fundamentally and just the only thing that made the difference in that moment besides that I was physically able to hold her hand was that I could speak for her and speak for the people that she needed to communicate with so. I would say it's not an extra difficulty that you face it's actually easier because once you've learned one language then you basically have a tool in the blueprint to learn other languages it's like playing a musical instrument once you know how to read music or write music and then you can jump from one instrument to the other including crossing over instrument families so you can also cross over language families so learning a language actually it becomes easier the more you learn the easier it becomes because there are so many connections with the language families like the Latin languages that they'll just help you and build over one another so it's easier actually not more hard. Sometimes too though with that if you are one issue that I have that's not really that big of a thing but if I'm speaking French sometimes there's only a German word that I can find for like one word in my sentence which is so frustrating because you're like why do I know this in German but not in the language that I'm speaking right now but thankfully a lot of the people that I speak with also speak German so it's fine if you just throw it in but it's funny to see like the overlaps of the languages and it definitely does get easier though the more that you know. Definitely immersion, immersion is a huge one. You can do that obviously through studying abroad and being in another country but for those of you who don't necessarily have the means or the opportunity to study abroad you can immerse yourself within your own home so when I studied for some French proficiency exam they're very very difficult. The way that I would study and practice I would always have the radio playing in the background French news and when I would be doing chores I'd have the radio playing in the background. I would read all of my news in French and I stopped reading English news altogether and that's pure immersion that you can create within your own home, within your own setting. I think it's also to be more specific to like it can't, for me it has to be something I really like otherwise I'm just not gonna pay attention especially when you're at the stage when it's not easy yet so what I started with when I was in college still is over the summer I read all the Harry Potter books in Italian because I had read them 12 times in English so I already knew the story and actually helped for me like fill in a lot of those gaps so even if you have a favorite movie or I don't know you like to listen to cooking shows or something like that I would like stick to what you're interested in because it'll create that. I think that learning about the culture of the areas that you're learning the language of is also really important because through cultural understanding and through the learning of the language I think you can really sort of fundamentally connect the two and realize how they influence each other which is really interesting just even if you look at words or phrases that exist in English compared to French or German or whatever it gives you kind of even more insight I think into what makes Germany, Germany or France, France or wherever, wherever. Well it's eight o'clock now and I invite anybody who has any additional questions to stay and speak directly to our panelists and for the rest of you thank you for coming and thank you for that wonderful talk.