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A podcast about international social work. Made by SocNet98, an European network of 18 universities that graduates students in social work. In this podcast you can listen to a broad specter of topics that is all connected to social work in an international perspective.
[Automatic captions by Autotekst using OpenAI Whisper V3. May contain recognition errors.]
[Steinar Vikholt]
Welcome to The Social Pod, a podcast brought to you by SockNet98, a network of universities sharing the common interest for social work in an international perspective.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Hi, my name is Phu Phan, and I'm one of the faculty members at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
And I have four students with me, and we are in the SOGLO course for 2024.
So in this episode, we're going to talk a little bit about the students' experiences in the SOGLO24.
So I have four students, and so can you go through and tell us who you are, what school you're from?
[Carly]
Yeah.
I can start.
Hi, my name is Carly.
I go to Augustana University.
It's a small liberal arts university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
I'm a biology major, and then I have minors in chemistry and medical humanities.
My internship experiences and interests lie in public health and health equity and health disparities.
So I'm actually going to be graduating in the spring and then eventually heading to medical school.
So, yeah, I just came to Norway to learn about how social welfare systems are run in other places.
And it's been a great experience so far.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
[Michelle]
Hello, everybody.
My name is Michelle Cedeno, and I'm a student at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
My major is in human services, and I'm currently minoring in psychology as well.
My internship experience lies on refugee resettlement and homelessness.
And I'm really enjoying it so far here, learning about the welfare system, kind of just comparing it and contrasting it to our own back at the USA.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
[Edna]
Hello, my name is Edna Bytus.
I'm also a student at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
I'm currently majoring in human services, which is a little bit like psychology, sociology, and social work.
And I'm also minoring in anthropology.
I usually do social work as a way of means of life, but I do plan on
going into a mortuary school after graduating.
Very different path, I know.
But I did come to Norway because I was aware that a lot of Scandinavian countries have probably one of the best social welfare systems in the world.
And I'm so grateful to be here.
Thank you.
[Nodoka]
Hello, my name is Nodoka.
I'm from Sophia University in Japan.
My major is education.
Especially, I'm interested in developing countries' education.
So I think I'd like to connect with the social welfare system and education.
So I'd like to improve my skills of education and welfare skills.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you everybody for being here.
I have just a few questions to ask you about your experiences in the SoGlo course for this year.
And this is part of the ongoing project that we try to record and give information out to the others about the course.
So I will start by asking you
You were all selected to come here and the course has run for about a month now.
What was your pre-trip expectations for the course?
Can you talk a little bit about that?
And we don't have to go in the order that we started, so anybody can start.
Maybe Michelle, can you start us?
[Michelle]
Okay, my first expectation was that I would be learning a lot, and I am really learning a lot about the welfare system, but also about the Norwegian society and about cultural norms and just really about being curious.
I feel like that's a very important aspect, especially of being a social worker.
You always have to be open-minded and curious.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
[Edna]
Hello, my name is Edna.
One of my expectations was, I will say I kind of had a little bit of a sense of imposter syndrome before coming into this.
I know that I worked hard to be here and that I have been doing so much better in my classes just to be here.
And I mean, it goes to show because I am here.
But, yeah, I kind of had this expectation that, you know, everyone was going to be so much smarter and harder working.
And I was probably going to fall behind, just a little bit of uncertainty.
But then coming into here, I realized, oh, I have a lot to share and I have a lot to learn.
And that really helped.
gave me a sense of excitement to really be here.
So that really disproved all of my insecurities for sure.
But I also just really just didn't know what to expect.
I kind of had this notion that it was going to be a little bit similar to school back at home.
I mean, I don't know how the education is in another country, but I kind of assumed it would be like traditional class settings, sitting in a room with a bunch of other students and then just listening to the professor and then having homework and then you just do your homework.
But no, I think over here it's been quite different in the sense that, no, you're kind of involving yourself into the culture.
You're really experiencing and learning questions and asking yourself these questions to learn what it is like to be a social worker.
I mean, you have to critically think everywhere that you are, and you have to kind of step into this new environment with a sense of humility.
really listen to other people and their own perspectives.
And so, yeah, it's very different from what my expectations were.
[Carly]
Yeah, I think that one of the main things I was asked before I came here was like, why are you doing a program in social work?
Because at home, I am very much so like that medicine focus.
It's just a lot of my coursework has been focused on that, partly because of the requirements.
Also, because I don't think we have classes like this at home.
It's a completely different subject and topic.
And yeah, and so I think that I'm a firm believer that anybody that's going into medicine is only better off knowing about medicine.
social welfare in a broader context.
And the more you can know about other cultures and experience them firsthand, the more you're going to be able to connect and form relationships with your patients, which not all practitioners have that mindset that forming relationships and
um, like on a personal level is important, but I think that especially working in the community health setting, it is.
Um, and even in a relatively small city, um, for the United States standards where I'm from, um,
I work in a community health center setting and experience a lot of different cultures.
And so I think that one of the best things I can do to prepare myself for even what I'm working as now and in the future as well is just, like I said, immersing myself in other cultures, getting that different perspective.
And I've kind of realized, especially while I'm here,
I'm going to be a lifelong learner, like learning about other cultures.
And of course, the medicine, the science is important, but it's also getting to know the people and different perspectives, like I said.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
[Nodoka]
Yeah, I'm Nordhoka.
So before I came to Norway, I thought in my home country, I mainly focused on education.
But after coming to Norway, I knew
I learned from various aspects, and I knew a lot of differences between the UK and Norway, and of course in Japan.
So I was surprised by a lot of learning outcomes.
[Michelle]
I want to add on to what Edna had said about imposter syndrome.
I feel like especially with the first-generation students coming from an immigrant household, it's something that primarily affects us, and it's just about us having these doubts and us needing to constantly remind ourselves that, oh, we achieved these things, and we're allowed to kind of immerse ourselves in this environment.
[Carly]
Yeah, I actually...
I had that same experience.
I think I'm not a first generation student, but I come from a low income single parent family.
And so I think that if you were to tell me a few years ago that I'd have this opportunity to not only come and study in Norway, but with that travel around Europe and meet all these new people, I'd be like, no, that's not going to be me.
And
Yeah, I think that this opportunity has been, it was kind of something that just fell into my lap.
And I'm glad that I jumped on it.
But like you guys said, imposter syndrome is definitely real.
Like, oh, why am I the one that gets to be here?
But working through that and knowing, like Edna said, we all have different perspectives that everybody would value from hearing and learning about.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you for that.
Now that you brought this issue up and at least three of you have touched on it, now that you are that person that are here and doing all these things, how has it changed or impacted you personally and how do you think it will impact you moving forward?
[Carly]
I think for me um so I'm very fortunate I actually had an opportunity to study abroad once before it wasn't this long um and it was kind of a completely different it was a 180 from Norway I was in Kenya for a month um but I've learned through that and I'm still learning now like just traveling is is part of the experience and that's how I'm learning the most um so I think like
talking, just talking with the people, meeting new people, getting to exchange perspectives.
And like that has been, yeah, now that I know that I'm that person and like having that pride and like I want to share my perspective and I want to hear about their perspectives too, that has been like a huge thing.
And just being more
I don't want to say like go with like kind of go with the flow.
I think traveling and hearing all these different perspectives and just letting yourself be open to learning about things that are different and maybe uncomfortable for where you come from is a huge thing.
It's a huge like mindset shift, especially like establishing yourself in a new country this time around.
Like we, you know, we had to move into our own places and,
I just got a residence permit, you know, like actually doing it in a different country in a halfway across the world from your family.
I think I've developed a lot like with my independence and also with my ability to just kind of take a deep breath and like look at it from like take a step back and look at it and realize that like everything is going to be OK.
Like you've got this and yeah.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
[Edna]
Yeah, no, I totally agree.
I would say before coming into this, I was aware, like, I think I'm a pretty confident person.
You know, I kind of hold myself together.
But really coming here was a real test to that type of sentiment.
And
Where I come from, like my family, the dynamic we have is I'm the youngest in my family.
I am a first generation student, but I also have two older siblings.
Probably set the bar really high in terms of college and expectations.
And so I kind of had this mindset that I have to rely on my family.
I can't be independent.
I basically...
If I have to do something, I need to look to my siblings or my parents for help in everything I do.
And I thought I had this sense of independence growing up, but I mean, I'm only, what, 22, almost 23 years old.
I'm still a kid.
But coming here, I really have really realized, hey, okay, I am being independent.
I have to buy my own groceries.
I have to wake up on my own to go to class.
I paid for my first flight, first vacation, and this is money that I saved up for this.
And so that's been a really exciting experience, getting to learn about myself and what I am capable of.
I really hope that I can take this back home with me.
Because when I go back home, I'm definitely going to be a different person.
I'm going to make new friends.
The confidence that I had, it's not going to be fake anymore.
It's going to be real.
And I'm so excited.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
That's very wonderful to hear, Michelle.
[Michelle]
Yeah, so I definitely want to add on to what Edna said about like a new sense of independence and confidence.
That's something I am also going to take back home because I have, this is my first time living outside of my family's home and my first time really dorming at the school.
So it's just an experience that I have really been enjoying, like discovering.
And then also I relate to Carly, like growing up in a single parent household and
And also receiving like welfare, like food stamps, TANF.
I feel like that experience also makes me emphasize more with the population that I want to work with.
It's like I can relate to them and I can help them like address how they feel and also like connect them to resources that they might not be aware of.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
Nutoka, do you have anything to add regarding your current experiences here?
Yeah.
[Nodoka]
So in Japan, I don't have many opportunity to go abroad because Japan is island.
So it's so difficult to move outside.
But in Norway, compared with Japan, it's easy to go outside because it's near to European countries.
some North European countries.
I think it's that's because that's why there are many I think Norway is so diverse than my home countries.
So
In my home country, I'm a Japanese, and so I'm a minority.
But in Norway, there are many foreign people.
The number of Japanese people is so few.
But on the other hand, on the other hand, I...
In this environment, I can get to know a lot of people and a lot of experience and perspective.
So it's my new opportunity here.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Yeah, go ahead, Carly.
[Carly]
I just wanted to add on really quick to what Edna was saying about family.
So I'm kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum.
I'm the oldest child.
And so I think what we were all kind of saying about family
maybe where we come from, our backgrounds.
We didn't know if we were going to be this person.
We would get these opportunities.
I have two younger brothers, and I'm super close with them.
I don't live at home with them anymore, but I've always lived in the same city.
And I think that one of the biggest things
coming here is like almost like proving to them that like we, we deserve this kind of thing too.
You can do it.
And so that's like a huge thing for me.
Like it, it was so hard leaving, leaving that.
Um, cause like I said, I'm, I'm very close with both of them.
I think that
part of that is because of like our experiences but you're kind of just forced to be you're really close um but another part of that i think too is that we just have like so much respect for each other i mean i have one of my brothers is 14 years old so he's still a kid but it's just so cool like he is so curious about what i'm experiencing here and like learning about
all these things that I'm doing and all these places I'm visiting and talking on the phone and then hearing him say, oh, when I'm 21, I want to go to Amsterdam and I want to go to Norway and I want to learn about this.
And it's just I think that hearing that even just hearing about my experiences is like opening doors for other people in my life has been a huge thing while I've been here.
[Edna]
Yeah, and I definitely want to commend you for that because as the youngest sibling, my oldest siblings, they're also like my best friends.
I look up to them and seeing where they are, I do want to be at the same place that they are.
And sometimes I feel like, hey, I might not be able to reach it.
but they're my biggest supporters and telling them of this opportunity.
They're so excited.
They're so happy for me.
And, and that helped me be a little more confident because they kept telling me I can do it.
I can do it.
And I, I could do it.
I did it.
So you being that role model for them, that's amazing.
So good job.
Yeah.
[Carly]
And like they're, so they're actually going to get to come and visit over Christmas.
And so, um,
I think that, yeah, like my mom has said, like just watching them, like Carter, he's like, his face just like lights up thinking about like all these things he's going to get to do, even just being here for a few weeks.
And it's the fact that I ended up in this situation is actually opening up opportunities for a lot of people in my life.
And that's been really cool to watch.
And so I'm excited to see, you know, even after the fact with everything I've learned, like how much more that opens up for not only me, but my
and my perspectives, but the people that I work with and people I go to school with and the people in my family and, um, yeah.
Yeah.
[Michelle]
I want to add on to the middle child perspective because I am a middle child.
I have always looked up to my older sister.
She graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills as well with her criminal justice degree.
Her moving towards college and actually graduating, it motivated me to also pursue a college degree.
and my my second eldest sister as well and so I can see um the change in perspective like for my younger siblings they also are so curious and what we're doing they're starting to ask questions they are both in high school both of my younger siblings and they're asking for advice oh what do you think I should do what career do you think would benefit me the most and so I kind of um
I try and guide them and be like a counselor for them.
I help them research like the programs that they're interested in, taking into consideration their own interests and what they're really passionate about because I feel like if they're going to choose a career, they have to really feel for that and be passionate about it in order to really succeed.
So, yeah, that's my perspective on it.
And like what Carly had said that my own experience, like studying abroad is opening the doors to other people in my life.
So now I see my older brother, my sorry, my youngest brother.
He's also looking towards studying abroad, maybe in the future.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
So it sounds to me like this journey is not only a journey that you yourself take, but you take your family along with you on the journey and it affects your family members as well.
That's wonderful to hear.
[Nodoka]
Yeah, I agree so much.
Actually, I have an older sister.
She is 27 years old.
She already works in a city hall in Japan.
She doesn't have much experience to go abroad.
But she is so interested in other cultures or some experience.
So after I go back to my home country, I'd like to take her out of experience.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
That's wonderful to hear.
I want to kind of relate and stay on this topic a little bit that Noto Kata talked earlier about being a minority versus a majority person in Japan.
You guys are all international students from different parts of the world.
What is it like to be an international student here in Norway?
What is it like?
[Michelle]
I feel like the first thing I think of, like thinking me, myself being a minority here in Norway is just how welcoming the society is.
But it is also difficult in a way, kind of still being able to connect with my own roots.
Like, for example, grocery shopping here is very difficult.
I was trying to find some Mexican like sauces and I was finally able to find some, but I had to do a little investigating, exploring.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Like you said that you found the society to be welcoming.
In what way?
But in the grocery stores, then you can't find the Mexican ingredients and you have to investigate.
Can you talk a little bit more?
[Michelle]
Okay, well, they're very welcoming in the sense like friendly, like they want us to be a part of their events, like the socialization.
I think that when you go to the events, that's when you're able to socialize more with the Norwegians.
And also just the services also that they provide, it's very inclusive.
But yeah, sorry, can you repeat the question?
[Prof. Phu Phan]
The grocery store ingredient from Mexico, you said you had to do some investigation.
[Michelle]
Yeah, yeah.
So I really wish they were more inclusive in that aspect, that they had more of a diverse selection.
Oh, okay.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
And now?
[Edna]
Yeah.
So what was I going to say?
Oh, yeah.
In the sense of Norwegians being welcoming, I will say like in the beginning, because it was the social aspects of like the social events.
What was it called?
It was called Father Week.
Father Week.
Yeah.
That was so easy to meet people.
I mean, it's it's a purpose to make friends.
You know, it's it's it's you know, that's what the point is.
But after that is quite a culture shock.
You just walk around the campus, no one stares at you.
You don't really say hi to people.
And even if someone sneezes, you don't say bless you.
But yes, people are very nice.
They are very nice.
They just don't want to bother you.
And I think that's something that back home I'm so used to.
I'm used to just stopping someone on the street and telling them like,
oh, you look great today, or oh, you have a really nice shirt on.
And I think that's also just my experience from working and also kind of being just, I don't know, the type of person I am.
But yes, it was quite a culture shock just seeing how independent everyone is.
But when you are put into these social environments where that's the purpose, everyone's so nice.
Everyone's welcoming.
And
And I love getting to hear everyone's perspectives of where I come from as a U.S.
citizen.
And maybe some of the stereotypes are true, but it's also fun teaching them what the reality is and seeing their shocked faces and stuff.
As for food, yes, it was so difficult to find food from my culture.
So I'm Salvadorian, my parents are both immigrants, and I'm so used to having some really good food.
But yeah, I can't find a lot of those ingredients back over here.
So I have to improvise sometimes.
Am I a good chef?
I think so.
But is it easy?
No, probably not.
But yeah, I'd like to hear maybe some other people too.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
Natoka, how about you?
What is it like to be an international student here in Japan?
I mean in Norway?
[Nodoka]
So I'm glad.
Most I'm glad to be interested in my countries.
So in doing my
studying abroad here so many people is interested in japan i often i often be asked how about japanese welfare system or how about in japan so i'm so glad to
be have interested my countries so and i'm glad to introduce my experience and my in home countries it's so nice so so it feels good to be kind of an ambassador of your country to here being a student here very nice how about you carly
[Carly]
Yeah, I think that... So I was fortunate.
I didn't struggle as much with the food.
I'm not an ethnic minority, so I know that that was something that I didn't have to struggle with as much.
But the social aspect of it was huge for me.
I come from... So I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
So...
I don't know if you guys have heard, but there's this like Midwest nice, like people kind of poke fun at Midwesterners.
You're almost like too open, too friendly.
So that was something that I was definitely very self-conscious of right when I got here, just because I was like, kind of like Edna was saying, I was like, am I bothering anybody?
You know, like in my hometown, it's not a small city by any means.
It's like 200,000 people.
But you get to know a lot of people and it's very, we've talked about how here you definitely can get to know people.
Everybody's very nice.
It's a little bit harder to really like crack open the shells of Norwegian people and feel like you have a very like genuine lasting relationship.
Like get past the pleasantries and not necessarily in a bad way.
It's just, it's different from what I'm used to.
Like I feel like,
I could meet someone at the grocery store, and then I feel like I'm genuinely friends with them for a while.
And we always talk about the whole not saying hi or waving to people in public.
That was a huge thing.
I think the first time I went to the grocery store, I was smiling at people or kind of like...
hi, you know, walking down the aisle and they were probably like, where did she come from?
Like, this is weird.
Um, but like where I'm from, like if you don't smile or say hi or acknowledge another person, like you're the odd one out.
Um, so that was a huge thing.
Um, yeah.
And I guess just like navigating that, like I'd,
I don't want to let go of that part of my upbringing and personality, but also knowing that I am in another culture.
So respecting that boundary and learning about that.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Okay.
So to just wrap this up, now that there's about another two months left on this course, what are you expecting to learn for the rest of the time?
And also, what are some lasting things that you think you will take with you as this experience wraps up?
[Edna]
Yeah, I want to say that just already being here, I think it's probably been already about a month, I want to say.
I've already learned a lot.
I was aware of a lot of the things that we are learning about, especially like
you know, critical thinking, research methods, you know, how to speak to clients and stuff.
But I've learned a lot of new terms like the salutogenic process, the logic model.
And it's interesting because, yeah, I was sort of kind of aware of what these concepts were, but really putting a name and a term to, you know,
what they actually are, I can now take this back home and, and apply it to the way that I do things.
Because yeah, back home, I try to use like inclusive language, but then really learning like what the salutogenic method is.
It's like, okay, now I know how to
purposely do that and actually like really apply it and so what i hope to do is continue learning more about these new methods these other ideas so that when i do come back home i can apply it to everything and and uh yeah
[Michelle]
I definitely agree with you that that's also what I'm going to take home.
Um, that's the main aspect.
So instead of like a pathogenic approach to it, um, trying to be more salutogenic about things because, um, like for my internship experiences, I feel like it was very much just crisis management, um, which is like very common back in the States.
Um, so yeah, so just looking more towards like strength based approaches.
Hmm.
[Carly]
Yeah, kind of like Michelle said, I think that we talk about this idea of American health care is
broadly, like a sick treat system, not a preventative system.
And kind of the same with crisis management and the welfare system.
And some of that is strictly out of lack of resources, of people, of all of that.
It's just kind of what we've fell into, I think, a lot of times.
But knowing that there are other countries that that's not the norm has been really eye-opening for me, even just...
The first week that we were here talking with some students here that weren't even in social work or nursing, anything like that, they're asking us questions about, I don't know, anything from topics of abortion, gun control, how doctor's offices are run, and just hearing them, they were genuinely a little bit shocked how some of that stuff is run
in the United States and specifically where we are from,
And so just realizing that there are other ways to run systems.
And it's definitely like we can adapt things.
We can teach things.
There's lots of things to exchange, information to exchange.
But I think that that's been one of the biggest things, just realizing that there are other ways and knowing how to implement them when I get back and continue learning, like Anna said.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Thank you.
How about you, Notoka?
[Carly]
Yeah.
[Nodoka]
Excuse me.
So in the course, I learned a lot of new knowledge.
For example, model or logic model, how to do some research or some project.
It's so useful to
It's so useful in many areas Before I said I my measure is education.
So I think I'm thinking now I I'd like to be a teacher and so when when I when I
When I become a teacher, I can tell students this knowledge.
It's important to tell many
many knowledge and some different perspective on some welfare system or some education system also.
It's contributed for me.
[Prof. Phu Phan]
Okay.
With that, I'm going to conclude.
Thank you very much for your participation in this podcast.
Have a wonderful rest of the semester.
[Michelle]
Thank you.