Skills

For my classes, I kept color-coded notebooks for taking notes in. I also used Apple Calendar to insert assignment due dates and important events, so I stay on top of my commitments. During my study abroad in Paris, I kept my itinerary on a master document, with train tickets and B&B bookings in chronological order for easy access.

My classes abroad frequently required me to work with my classmates to complete a task. One example of this was when we had to find specific types of cheese, scavenger hunt style throughout Paris. My partner claimed that they knew exactly where we needed to go, so even though I had my own ideas, I let them lead and we found a cheese that was much better than I had expected to find. Being able to let others take the lead while still offering support was a breath of fresh air that benefited both of us in the end.

I've communicated in several unique ways thanks to the classes I've taken at the University of Florida. In my French classes alone, I have written reflection essays, spoken to a student on the other side of the world, and presented to my classmates on a topic of my choosing (in french, of course). These experiences strengthened my public speaking and writing skills, but they also improved my ability to communicate in uncomfortable situations, like when I need to speak in a second language.

The connections I've made to French culture through this program have been unforgettable. In one case, I got very close to my host family while living in Paris for my study abroad, eating most dinners with them and engaging in conversations when I could. Another memorable experience was reading "Métaphysique des tubes" in a French course, which was the first French novel I've ever read. We analyzed the text as a class, and it was a huge surprise to me when the book was rendered into an animated film in 2025. Reading a novel and seeing a film through the perspective of someone of the French culture was a nice change from so many books I read from American authors who grew up in the culture of which I am most familiar.

An important tool for wildlife biology research data analysis, I've used the R program in multiple classes surrounding my major. Specifically, I've used R to interpret similarities and differences between wildlife populations via multivariate analyses that I ran in the program for a conservation genetics class. I've recently used R to find behavior correlations in my behavior repeatability research.

I've been exposed to the French language since I was three years old, when my mom took my to French classes with a local teacher. I officially took courses starting freshman year of high school and continued through my minor education at the University of Florida. Before completing my minor in the language, I studied abroad in Paris with a host family and took multiple grammar and composition classes.