Sadie Sheff, a University of Kentucky sophomore from Louisville, Kentucky, said she has always had a love for traveling and a desire to accomplish her dreams of seeing the world.
“I loved the experience of exploring different cultures while visiting the different countries in Epcot at Disney World,” Sheff said. “I knew I had a desire to travel that I wanted to turn into reality by going abroad.”
Sheff studied abroad this past summer in a junior-level course as one of four freshmen selected. She went to Paris, France to take CIS 300, a class focused on business and professional communication in La Défense, the largest business district in the European Union.
“We learned how to create a strategy to improve a company when they are faced with an important opportunity,” Sheff said. “Our prompt centered around how Disney should react to the Olympics coming to Paris in 2024.”
Sheff is a finance and marketing major in the Global Scholars Honors Pathway in the Gatton College of Business at UK. This pathway focuses on learning about businesses around the world and how to thrive in a global workforce.
“I learned that when you’re in a business environment, you are not always going to have the same mentality and viewpoints as your coworkers, so it’s important to learn how to put your opinions aside to build connections," she said.
Sheff said she not only learned a lot about herself but also a lot about the french culture.
“My favorite part about being in Paris was sitting in a cafe and people-watching, so I could see how their life operated," she said.
Sheff said she remembers the moment when her group went to the very top of the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
“I thought about how small we are in comparison to the world," Sheff said. “We should always remember to just be open to new perspectives and getting out of our comfort zones.”
Sheff said going to another country helped her learn a lot about herself and her ability to be independent because she relied on herself for navigation and learning how to communicate in French.
Sheff said she hopes to continue her adventures in 2024 with a semester abroad in Singapore or Japan.