International Coursework
During my time as a student at UF, I was able to engage in various classes that qualified as International courses. I used these classes as an opportunity to explore my hobbies outside of academia- namely, music and mythology.
Discovering Music (Fall 2016)
As a lifelong musician, I was determined to incorporate music into my classwork. During my first semester, I was able to learn about world music and different cultures' conceptualization of music. This course provided an overview of the history of music as well as the diversity of musical expression that exists outside of the Western hemisphere. I was fascinated by instruments like the gamelan and especially enjoyed hearing performances with ragas, or notes often used in Indian music. Additionally, I learned about the universal aspects of music in every society and how music making functions as emotional communication. Overall, I was able to recognize how central music is to the human experience through this course.
Myths of the Greeks and Romans (Fall 2016)
This course allowed me to develop a global perspective regarding religious and cultural values that stem from stories preserved throughout time. With a heavy focus on the intricacies of the myths told in Ancient Greece and Rome, I was able to better understand the day-to-day life of those who lived by these stories. We frequently discussed the moral implications of certain myths, like the consequences of greed evidenced in the story of Tantalus or the price of vanity paid by Narcissus. By exploring these tales of morality, I was better able to empathize with those who lived by these lessons, despite our distance in time and space. Through examining the past in this course, I became better equipped to understand how the stories we tell influence morals in the present day.
Music and Health (Fall 2019)
This course caught my interest as a psychology major because it explored the therapeutic applications of music in clinical settings like hospitals and nursing homes. I learned about how music is used in different healthcare settings around the world. In fact, one major project I completed was writing a song about a major health crisis in another country. I interviewed a foreign national from the Dominican Republic and used material from our conversation to create a song in Spanish addressing the issue of obesity (you can access the Spanish lyrics and English translation here). This project allowed me to practice my Spanish speaking skills and developed my understanding of how music can alleviate world health crises.