Linda Adarkwah '20
Getting a global view on psychology in Greece
Linda Adarkwah discovered a whole new world and a whole new perspective on what her postgraduate career path will be after spending a semester in Greece.
It was just the refreshing start she needed. "My time abroad was everything and more," says Adarkwah. "The whole four months in Greece felt like a dream. It was nice to get away and experience a different culture and lifestyle." While her home base was Athens, studying at the American College of Greece (ACG), Adarkwah connected almost immediately with a group of locals who not only showed her around the school but exposed to the non-touristy side of Greece. By the end of her time abroad, she discovered other cities like Delphi, Piraeus, Vouliagmeni, Nafplio, Arachova, Elliniko, and of course, Mykonos and Santorini, while venturing outside Greece to Rome, Florence, Venice, Berlin, and Marrakech.
Adarkwah's coursework at ACG redirected her career path to exactly what she was looking for: knowledge on the psychology of children, the psychology of diversity, and the psychology of different personality traits. Today, she has a targeted career path specifically in law, human rights, social psychology, and child advocacy which will help her attain a fall semester-long internship at a non-profit child advocacy center, women in leadership, or a pro-choice organization in the Boston area. In fact, she will be working with the Massachusetts Citizens for Children (MassKids) in Boston where she'll be researching state laws on child sexual abuse prevention and generating a report outlining next steps for program development, creating ideas to launch programs on social media, and promoting and marketing MassKids pamphlets. Looking ahead to senior thesis, she is considering the topic of how the opioid crisis effects the children of the users.
"Being on my own in a whole new country helped me grow as a person along with developing new interests and learning to just live more in the moment. I got to express myself in ways I never could have if I didn't go abroad. I wish I could do it all over again."