Study Abroad Leads to Broadening Horizons

Global Commerce major Kim Moreira ’21 shares how her experiences in Brussels expanded her capacities.

Last spring semester I had the opportunity to study abroad in Brussels, Belgium, where I was able to completely immerse myself in the Belgian culture. During my time there, I interacted with a diverse array of people from various backgrounds, learned some Dutch, and sampled all the chocolates, waffles, and beers that Belgium had to offer. Needless to say, I put on a couple of pounds while I was there, but it was well worth it.

During my time in Brussels, I completed an immersive field study and internship experience at the Royal Library of Belgium, where I worked alongside the head Research Assistant for the Library’s Archives over a span of three months, translating historical texts and learning about historical works of famous Belgian authors. This small translating experience was enough to spark an interest in this field as a potential career path for me. Although the discipline of linguistics always attracted me in one form or another, I never considered translating as a possible career field until I had this fulfilling experience abroad.

Since being back home, I’ve continuously pursued this career interest and have sought out opportunities where I can hone and refine my linguistic knowledge of the French language. Given our current situation, it’s hard to put a timeline on anything, but my hope for the future is to continue in my studies of French culture after Denison and acquire further competencies that could help me pursue a career involving translation work.

After cultivating so many new skills and refining old ones in such a short amount of time, it’s hard to imagine my Denison education without this amazing study abroad experience. I am so grateful that I took a leap of faith across the world because it opened my mind to new career possibilities.