Campus Experiences
In 2021, I started watching Xiaomanyc, an American polyglot, on YouTube. His videos centered around connecting with people on the streets by speaking their native languages, from Mandarin, to Turkish, to Irish Gaelic. With a post-pandemic itch to explore the world and new inspiration from watching how happy Xiaomanyc made the people he interacted with, I made it my goal to become a polyglot myself. Once I signed up for my study abroad program to Germany at the start of 2022, I registered for German 1 at UF in hopes of learning enough to get by and meet new people when I went overseas. When the class paid off and I was able to make friends in Germany just from them being fascinated I could even say "how are you?" in German, I was motivated to learn more.​
My next class was Francophone Cultures in fall 2023, a class taught entirely in French about different French-speaking nations around the world. From this course, I learned so much about global histories and traditions that were for the most part left out of the textbooks I had in high school, including coverage of the Caribbean, northern Africa, and Quebec. Not only did I get fascinating new knowledge about these regions, but I also learned about the complex and sometimes controversial role that the French language has in some places, which was not something I ever knew about before.​
After English, French, and German, I needed one more language to start my journey to becoming a true language Avatar. This fourth element ended up being Japanese; I took Japanese 1 in fall 2024 and am currently taking Japanese 2 at UF.​ These classes are quite different from the others, with much more time needing to be devoted to new writing systems and completely different structures of grammar. However, I am absolutely loving it, and am already planning a trip to Japan once I graduate.
See the links below to some projects I did for my international classes!
International Coursework​ & A Mission to Become a Polyglot
Whenever I had the opportunity, I tried my best to balance out my engineering classes with at least one out-of-curriculum class, which often was internationally-focused. It all started with my freshman fall, where I took Development of World Civilization and Experiencing Music. I have always been fascinated by history, and these two classes were able to provide new insights into archaeology and music culture I had not experienced before. For the World Civilization class, I was able to explore the history of many places around the world and the anthropological factors that helped shape modern day cultures. For Experiencing Music, we looked into the effects different cultures have had on music throughout time and how they've shaped popular music styles.​ These classes have not only deepened my understanding of the diverse histories around the world, but have also helped me recognize how interconnected our world is, revealing several commonalities in history and culture that highlight our shared humanity.
Mentor for Exchange Students & Meeting Some of My Best Friends Ever
The Fall 2024 semester was, hands down, my best semester of college. At first, I wasn’t sure what to expect, since most of my friends had already graduated and moved out of Gainesville. But my pessimistic outlook changed when I met my roommate, Lukas—an exchange student from Graz, Austria. Lukas quickly became one of my best friends, as we had many of the same interests and a similar outlook on life. We also shared a passion for exploration, so I made it my mission to show him around Gainesville and Florida throughout the semester—all while getting lessons on Austrian culture along the way.
As the semester took off, I slowly began to meet more and more international students through Lukas. These included Peter from Germany, Aimar from Spain, Kohei from Japan, Edward and Herald from Sweden, and Adam from Denmark. Together, we formed a friend group: the "internationals plus Ryan" group. Through this relationship, I was able to show all of the internationals around Gainesville, taking them to some of my favorite restaurants, Payne's Prairie, and Ichetucknee Springs, to name a few. We also took trips outside of Gainesville, where I was able to show them Tampa, Valdosta, and Orlando for Halloween Horror Nights.
​In addition, I had the opportunity to show the group of international students some of U.S. culture. This ranged from answering mundane questions about cultural differences in transportation and campus rules, to taking them out to my fraternity's tailgates and to the Gator football games to get a firsthand look at that facet of the American college life. I also introduced them to some of our cuisine; some of their favorites were Wawa milkshakes, fried chicken, and barbeque food.
Perhaps the most notable experience, though, was hosting the international students for Thanksgiving and introducing them to the many dishes that make up the traditional Thanksgiving feast. They were able to learn about the history of the holiday and take part in my family's traditions; this was one of the most special moments of the whole semester for me.
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All in all, I had a blast spending my senior fall with the international students. I still talk ​with many of them everyday, and look forward to meeting up with them in their own countries in the future.​​​