LET’S TALK ABOUT…

Heidi Nicholls!

Sophomore. Social Science Major. Friend.

Heidi is interning at the Institute of International Education. It is a non-profit organization for the state department. One of the major responsibilities that Heidi attends to is arranging professional meetings between international visitors and the businesses that they want to meet from the Bay area. She will meet the visitors and take them to their meetings. She even gets to sit in on some of them, which she says is one of the best parts about the job. She likes how she gets to meet people from all over the world. “Sometimes there are many people from different countries coming in, or just one person. They are coming for business, activism, and law related topics.” This forces Heidi to know and understand the cultural history of San Francisco, and a lot of responsibility is put on her shoulders, but she handles herself well. When I asked her what she liked about that part of the job, she said, ” I get to know the city on a different level. I get to know what San Francisco stands for and what it is all about.”

One of Heidi’s favorite spots in the city is running throughout Golden Gate Park. We are lucky enough to live in a house that is literally located right in the park, so it’s nice to have that beauty right at our fingertips. Heidi also likes running through the Haight and Buena Vista Park up to Twin Peaks. Once you are at the top, you can get a great view of the entire city. “It’s a great vantage point!”

Something Heidi has learned so far on this semester abroad is that we are always learning, especially from the strangers we encounter with everyday. She says,” it teaches you something about humanity and people are always teaching you things about yourself.” Heidi has noticed that she has automatically created a backstory about the strangers she meets, but by being in the city, she gets to see how her assumptions have been both correct or incorrect. She likes learning what people value, and generally, what the city values. 

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