Submission Number: 414
Submission ID: 1361
Submission UUID: 3b3709c4-805d-4bea-a96e-6c4be4f4e802

Created: Sun, 04/14/2024 - 23:05
Completed: Sun, 04/14/2024 - 23:05
Changed: Mon, 05/12/2025 - 01:48

Remote IP address: 24.16.38.139
Submitted by:Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
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Stella
Ruebel
She/her
Seattle
Washington
United States
98117
Biological Engineering
English (5), Spanish (4), Portuguese (1)
In the summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school, I studied abroad in Argentina for two months. During my time there I lived with a host family in Arroyito, a city in the province of Córdoba, and I also attended the local secondary school with my host sister and brother. I spent my time playing soccer on multiple teams as well as spending time with my new friends. While in Argentina I spoke Spanish with everyone, developing enough proficiency in the language that I now read books in Spanish.

Since then I have begun learning Portuguese with a tutor who lives in Southeast Brazil. We have lessons over Zoom every week where I have learned not just about language but about Brazilian culture as well.

I have also had the opportunity to travel to Spain and Japan with my family. In each place the importance of language has become more and more evident to me. In a jazz room in Tokyo I had a conversation with a man, yet we could barely understand each other. It is instances like this that make me commit to learning as many languages as I can, so that I can learn the stories of the people I meet.
Empathy, quirkiness and curiosity are the qualities I look for in a friend, so these would also be the qualities of someone I would want to live down the hall from. This would be someone who has their own unique passions they can share with me and someone who is also curious about my passions.

Of course when it comes to learning languages I hope to live next to someone who wants to practice new languages with me. We can hold film nights or book clubs where we watch or read in a language other than English.

Hopefully this person will be a lifelong friend and adventurer. We can travel the world together, exploring, meeting new people, and pursuing international research in our engineering fields.
My two biggest interests academically are learning languages and engineering caron-sequestering or other bioremediation technology. So subsequently my dream is to do international research in the latter area of study. I hope that the Global Engineering RAP can contribute an international component to my engineering training.

Meeting people who have similar interests is another reason I hope to be part of the Global Engineering RAP. I want to live near others who are interested in language and international engineering.

Personally I can contribute to the residential community by bringing my language skills as well as the empathy I have developed by working at Teen Link, a mental health phone line for teens run by teens. From working on the line I am prepared to help people dealing with mental health crisis ranging from suicidal ideation, to self harm, to domestic abuse.
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