Krystal Wu spent four months her junior year studying at the Casa de la Solidaridad in El Salvador, a SCU center devoted to immersion experiences to promote intercultural solidarity.

The experience gave her a global perspective on issues of economics, politics, and friendship. “I began to learn the importance of solidaridad in challenging and real ways,” she says. In some of the poorest areas of the country, she was struck by the generosity of people she met living in ramshackle homes made of sheets of tin and wood.

“I realized something that I hope I never forget: Sometimes the most important thing I can do is relinquish what little control I think have over my life. As an overachieving, United States-born perfectionist, this realization has altered me in important ways.”