Nadia C. Kusiima
Global Experiences
Cultural Involvement
International Mentorship Association
I joined the International Mentorship Association in my freshman year as a mentee. The program matched American upperclassmen and international students with incoming international students to help them get accustomed to life in the U.S. I had a kind mentor who took me to farmers' markets, and we went for dinner as a group with some of her friends. Though our relationship slowly fizzled, I liked being part of the organization and the events they held throughout the year. I joined the executive board in my second year as a communications director, and in this role, I designed graphics for the group's social media pages and coordinated plans between the school, the board and our supervisor. I refined my graphic design skills in Canva and created content that I was proud of. In three months, we increased our profile visits by 49%, and by the end of my term, we had doubled our reach, bringing our total audience to over 1,000 users.
Being a part of the executive board also strengthened the friendships I had made with the other directors, and I fell even more in love with the organization's mission. In my third year, I applied for the vice president position, which put me in charge of coordinating the matching process. We paired over 100 students together and hosted a ceremony where they all got to meet. In addition to exposing me to a lot of different cultures, I learned about teamwork and working with different personalities. When we had to book rooms for events and the room was double-booked, I was able to problem-solve and find a new venue for the event.
I learned that I had the skills to be a good leader. I was organized and able to coordinate a team. I balanced my time with school and work. We collaborated with other organizations on campus. We took trips to Ginnie Springs and Paynes Prairie, and through IMA, I grew to love the nature in Gainesville. It was through the organization that I learned about the International Scholars Program, and my passion to study abroad grew. I met exchange students and other international students who had similar experiences, and we were able to share, vent, and support each other as we tried to make the most of life in the U.S. Only we knew the struggle of hauling heavy groceries back to our dorms from Walmart or dealing with the mountains of paperwork required to open a bank account. It was in sharing those stories that we built community, shared hacks and found solutions to help each other.
I found myself very fulfilled. Engaging with people from all over the world and connecting with curious and kind students was the best part of my time at IMA.
International Coursework
Japanese Culture, Russian Lit & Linguistics
In my freshman year, I took a Japanese culture class because we were encouraged to take a "fun" class as we started. At the time, I thought I would be an International Studies minor or double major, so I thought it would be interesting to start with something completely new and unfamiliar to me. Little did I know that I was almost the only other person walking into that class blind. Many of the other students had a devoted interest in Japanese, and I felt like a fish out of water. The content we covered was fascinating; it combined historic and literary analysis, with lessons in language, etiquette, and politics. We watched movies and read books written by Japanese authors, and it was an immersive experience. Though it didn't connect to anything else I studied, my initial intimidation was replaced with a mission to take more classes outside my communications degree.
Thereafter, I took "Themes of Russian Literature: Culture of the Cold War," which, in many ways, was similar to the Japanese class in style but completely different in terms of experience. Dr. Kleespies's passion for the subject was magnetic. We worked through films, short stories and even jokes to understand life during the Cold War in Russia and the neighboring countries. We had an assignment to interview someone who had lived during the Cold War, and I found a Cambridge University professor through a Facebook group who had a fascinating life. (That’s not something I thought I’d ever write) Our conversation lives forever in the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program archives, which you can listen to here.
My Quest 2 class on linguistic prejudice had a profound impact on my worldview. If you ask any of my friends, they will tell you that this was probably one of the hardest classes I took. The readings were dense and complicated, and the assignments were long and arduous. We pored through tens of academic papers, and I don't think I've read as much as I did that semester. But the material was incredibly fascinating. It challenged all my beliefs about accents, code-switching, languages and dialects. As a monolingual speaker who never learned my mother tongue, I felt validated when learning about bilingual understanding. I learned how biases are taught and how my own prejudices hinder my ability to be a good communicator. I would tell everyone about what I learned in class each week, from the benefits of multilingualism to how different social categories influence our ways of speaking. See my project presentation here!
International Internship
Stillgarden Distillery
When deciding where I wanted to go during my study abroad, one of the only criteria I had was: work experience. I wanted the opportunity to live and work in another country. I’d spent my summers working in Copenhagen, and I loved the city and being immersed in it. I wanted to replicate that experience in a different environment. I also knew I needed more work experience before graduation. So, with that in mind, my options came down to Ireland and Singapore, and surprisingly, Dublin was an easy choice. I was placed at a local distillery, and before I started, I didn't know the difference between vodka and gin.
My time as a Stillgarden Distillery intern was surprising, to say the least. I learned about sales, press releases, distillation and alcohol concentrations. I did everything they needed: picked up litter in the community, labelled bottles, filmed Tiktoks and made coffee. When we would go out to our stockists (bars and restaurants that sell our products) and pitch the company to customers, I was out of my comfort zone. It was hard because I am quite reserved, and this required a bubbly and energetic personality, but I surprised myself. Once I got comfortable with the pitch, I was able to speak about the brand. In addition to improving my oral communication, I was back to making reels and posts for Instagram and TikTok on Canva. It was a chance to practice and refine my skills. Writing for social media requires a different set of skills than long-form writing, so contributing to the newsletter, press releases, and social media captions meant that I was getting a variety of writing practice. I was also able to practice my photography skills; we took product shots for different printed materials like flyers and brochures. Even though I had little experience, I enjoyed learning and being part of the process, from generating the ideas to staging and editing the final photos.
Despite being anxious to attend the promotional events, I appreciated that each day was different. This experience helped me refine my idea of my ideal job post-graduation. My personal goals have now evolved to include getting better at understanding social media metrics. I think it's an interesting area of study, and with my data analytics experience, it could be an additional skill to add to my toolbox and even a potential career field.
