{"id":2019,"date":"2025-11-18T10:48:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/?p=2019"},"modified":"2025-11-21T15:04:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T20:04:21","slug":"two-different-study-abroad-experiences-teach-violet-barton-how-to-step-into-a-new-world-and-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/2025\/11\/18\/two-different-study-abroad-experiences-teach-violet-barton-how-to-step-into-a-new-world-and-succeed\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Different Study Abroad Experiences Teach Violet Barton How to Step into a New World and Succeed"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Relations Major Explores Humanitarian Work in Both Geneva and South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

Violet Barton (Pardee \u201925) can count herself among the first students to have taken part in BU\u2019s newer Cape Town, South Africa<\/a> program.\u202fShe’s also one of the small number of students who complete more than one BU study abroad program.<\/p>\n

An international relations major with interests in international development, Barton was eager to study abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, home of many humanitarian, political, and economic organizations. She spent the Fall 2023 term on one of BU\u2019s Geneva Internship<\/a> programs and had a variety of interesting and perspective-shifting experiences \u2013 complete with plenty of travel throughout Europe \u2013 during her time.<\/p>\n

Originally a music major, Barton pivoted to international relations (IR) after one semester and has not looked back. \u201cI realized focusing solely on music was not for me, and I\u2019ve always been interested in global humanitarian efforts,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

After taking a class on global poverty, Barton was hooked and realized that her long-held interest in studying abroad would intersect well with her new IR major. While in Geneva, Barton says she was at the United Nations (UN) almost every day, and \u201cit was exactly what I was looking for in terms of a glimpse into international diplomacy and humanitarian work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The level of access and scope of opportunities available to students pleasantly surprised Barton. Looking back on her time in Geneva, she recalls that when she first started the program, she had put meeting the High Commissioner for Human Rights on her bucket list. And by the end of the program, she could check that experience off her list.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had thought \u2018oh it would be crazy to meet Volker T\u00fcrk,\u2019 but then it happened through an intern event,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI got to ask him a question about the UN\u2019s ability to respond to disasters that don\u2019t receive as much media coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Violet
Violet Barton at the UN during a Human Rights Council session. Photo courtesy of Violet Barton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She was also invited to a soiree at the French Ambassador to Switzerland\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

During one of her many visits to the UN, Barton witnessed The UN\u2019s Special Rapporteur for Russia,\u202fMariana Katzarova, address the Human Rights Council and sound the alarm on what she said was a pattern of suppression of civil and political rights in Ukraine since Russia\u2019s invasion.<\/a><\/p>\n

After Katzarova\u2019s report, Barton says different countries read out statements thanking her for her courageous investigation. Mich\u00e8le Taylor, who served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council from\u202f2022 to 2025 and who Barton met through the Geneva program, sharply condemned Russia\u2019s invasion. \u201cIt was an amazing chance to see the international relations I study playing out in real life,\u201d Barton recalls.<\/p>\n

Though Barton loved her time in Geneva, she realized she likely will not pursue a career in diplomacy but would rather approach the work from a different angle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt removed from the issues that I wanted to be tangling with, which is why I ended up going to Cape Town afterwards,\u201d explains Barton. \u201cI realized I want to be leaning more towards the NGO and foundation space and with people who are working in communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

BU\u2019s Cape Town: University Studies<\/a> program allowed her to do just that. During the Cape Town program, Barton took a community development course that has a volunteer component. In this capacity, she fulfilled this at an education nonprofit where she helped tutor students, and deeply enjoyed getting to know them.<\/p>\n

\"Violet
Violet Barton (center, seated at table) volunteering in Cape Town. Photo courtesy of Violet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI found that sort of hands-on work \u2013 talking to people \u2013 to be transformational for me, and that\u2019s the path I want to go down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both programs helped Barton build her confidence, and she says she brought this home with her upon her return to Boston.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy confidence is so much higher in my classes,\u201d she says. \u201cIn both Geneva and Cape Town, I had to build up my new life in a new country where I didn\u2019t know anybody. I had to build up my routines, my social circles, my academic habits \u2013 and explore new cities. So, I think I\u2019ve taken a lot of that with me, and I approached coming back to BU as less going through the motions than maybe some seniors do. I think I grew a lot from the experiences \u2013 and that\u2019s probably the biggest reason to go study abroad: to see yourself step into this new world and watch yourself succeed in building a new life for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Barton found her experiences in Cape Town and Geneva to be quite different \u2013 mostly because of the more independent structure of the Cape Town program, where she enrolled directly at the University of Cape Town. She had greater feelings of being a \u201cfish out of water\u201d in South Africa, at least initially. She also noticed some social tension in Cape Town because of the legacy of apartheid and said that in some ways it still feels segregated and unequal.<\/p>\n

\"South
South Africa\u2019s Table Mountain, photo courtesy of Violet Barton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe city has very impactful ways to engage with the legacy of apartheid, whether it’s Robben Island, where former political prisoners give tours of the island where they lived in captivity, or the museums which preserve the history of neighborhoods that were destroyed, or historical walking tours of the city that show apartheid-era government buildings and colonial monuments,\u201d she says. \u201cMost IES students volunteer for an organization of their choosing, many of which are in townships and informal settlements. I learned so much about history and patterns of inequality that reproduce themselves today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barton thinks both programs were incredibly rewarding and challenging ways to \u2018put yourself out there.\u2019 \u201cIn Cape Town, I\u2019d be the only American in my classes, so I stuck out more. But I also made some of my best friends in Cape Town, and I told my mom I want to move back to Cape Town one day. I found the warmth and connection I had with people to be unlike anything I\u2019ve ever experienced anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s never a shortage of ways to do experiential learning in the city [Cape Town] itself,\u201d she says. \u201cOn every first Thursday of the month, the whole city becomes\u202fa festival with outdoor music, free art galleries, thrift markets in the streets, and discounts at restaurants. Every other day of the month has its similar share of activities, whether it’s night markets, unique neighborhoods, or concerts in Kirstenbosch Gardens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, Barton is hoping to do a master\u2019s program at the University of Cape Town and to get more involved in the NGO space.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Africa has my heart,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m so interested in the politics and the development challenges and the diplomatic networks between our countries, so that\u2019s the direction I\u2019m headed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Violet
Violet Barton and a friend hiking to an abandoned cobalt mine in Cape Town, pointing at a fissure in the ground containing cobalt. Photo courtesy of Violet Barton.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

International Relations Major Explores Humanitarian Work in Both Geneva and South Africa Violet Barton (Pardee \u201925) can count herself among the first students to have taken part in BU\u2019s newer Cape Town, South Africa program.\u202fShe’s also one of the small number of students who complete more than one BU study abroad program. An international relations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9593,"featured_media":2020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[160,368,375,370,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9593"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2025,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions\/2025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/globalprograms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}