Speaker: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast by the hosts and guests may or may not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Miami University.

Speaker: Freshman year I came in undecided.

Speaker: I'm finance, entrepreneurship, anthropology.

Speaker: I'm a senior architecture student.

Speaker: I'm involved in the blockchain club here.

Speaker: I'm very passionate about studying abroad.

Speaker: Classes are going great.

Speaker: And then obviously very involved with my sorority.

Speaker: I'm thriving.

Meredith Aliff 

Hi, I'm Meredith Aliff. And this is major insight. This is the podcast where we talk college life with amazing students about how to find your place and purpose on campus.

A typical 9-5 job was never on the mind of Maya Mehlman, who, as a Media and Communications major, loves meeting new people, being creative, telling stories, and participating in the kinds of experiences that a career in this field can bring.

On campus, she’s very involved with her sorority, the Jewish Community, and with several university podcast projects. She’s also recently back from a semester-long study abroad in Spain, where she took the leap into a life-changing experience.

We’ll also talk about overcoming the FOMO that many students feel before studying abroad, dealing with culture shock, and about what it’s really like to learn how to live on your own for the first time.

Meredith Aliff 

So who are you?

Maya Mehlman 

My name is Maya Mehlman, I am a junior Media and Communications major.

Meredith Aliff 

What was the reasoning for your major choice?

Maya Mehlman 

Actually, in high school, it was junior year of high school, I just got randomly placed in like a media class that I was not happy about. I was like, I don't want to do this. Um, but I didn't really have any other options. So I ended up taking it thinking, whatever, it'll just be an easy A, and like, fell in love. Like it just clicked. It was a production class, like we were putting on the morning news in my high school. And I just fell in love. And it just made sense. Like, I can never imagine myself working a nine to five job. I'm to like, all over the place for that. And somehow just media like combines everything that I love, talking to people TV, creativity. So yeah, I knew coming into college, that was what I wanted to do. And I was very fortunate that like, I was able to start college right on that track, because it just made everything else easier.

Meredith Aliff 

Well, that's what I was gonna say, I do feel like that not sets you apart. But I had no clue. I didn't want to come in undecided. And so I, like put journalism, I was like journalism. But obviously, I'm not a journalism major anymore. But it's very interesting. When I hear people are like, oh, yeah, like I totally had a passion. And so I just went with it. Because that's not always the case.

Maya Mehlman 

It's not always the case. And just because I came into college, knowing what I wanted to do does not mean I know what I want to do leaving college I do want to say that. But, it did make the whole like hours credits thing a lot easier, because some of my friends have to have a hard senior year since they were behind. But I get to have a fluffy [one].

Meredith Aliff 

So nice. Yeah. So what do classes look like for you?

Maya Mehlman 

Media Communications is a lot of theory classes. So I take a lot of media representation. Film Studies, I'm in a audio production class, which has been really cool. So we have these like specializations where you can like choose what track they have technology and everyday society, media ethics, all that kind of stuff. So I'm in an audio production class, which is really cool. And there's a lot of hands on experience outside of classes that are offered too. I mean, I get to work with Miami podcasting, Major Insight, this little thing, I dont know of you'd heard of it. But yeah, the courses are very interesting. And there's also a lot of overlap too, which is nice, because you're like oh, this is easy

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah, absolutely. I love hearing you talk about it, you seem so like in love.

Maya Mehlman 

I do. Yeah, I was very lucky. And I really have liked all of my professors that I've had.

Meredith Aliff 

So that's awesome. Are there any in particular that you want to give a little shout out to today?

Maya Mehlman 

Yes actually. So Ronald Becker, he teaches the big like, lecture foundation course that you need to take in the beginning, you know, like the weed out?

Meredith Aliff 

Yes, absolutely.

Maya Mehlman 

And I took it my freshman year and total brag- I got like the highest grade. But it was my first ever, like college course that I ever took. And I was so scared. What... like, what am I ... what if this is wrong? What if this doesn't fit? What if I end up being horrible at it? And I wasn't. And Professor Becker had actually like reached out to me and was like telling me that I was doing a really good job too. Which was just like really nice. And it gave me the confidence I needed to know that like, okay, maybe I am in like the right place. And then also shout out to James Loy for just giving me the opportunity to work on major insight. And Mack Hagood, who hooked me up with the opportunity. Oh, my God, I have more. I want to make sure I don't forget. Oh, Andy Rice has been amazing. He also works in the media department. And he really like sees students and, like, gives them opportunities, which is really awesome.

Meredith Aliff 

That's great.

Maya Mehlman 

And then my last one is Kathleen Kollman. I took a media representation class with her and I'm also in woman gender studies with her this semester. I just love her. She's just so sweet. And so nice. Yeah.

Meredith Aliff 

I love it. Okay, so outside of class, what do you do

Maya Mehlman 

Outside of class, I am part of a sorority Chi Omega, which I'm very thankful for. It really did bring me like all my friends and I don't want to sound like that corny poster child, but like future bridesmaids too. And you know, it also just like gives me something to do. So that is where a lot of my time has focused. I'm very involved in the Jewish community on campus, too. I actually recently just became the president of Chabad, which was really an honor.

Meredith Aliff 

Congratulation.

Maya Mehlman 

Thank you, I'm not a super religious person at all, but I definitely did find like a nice community. And I also got to like discover my own Jewish identity and how, like, I want that to look so I am very grateful for that as well.

Meredith Aliff 

Well, it seems like you're very involved, which is super exciting

Maya Mehlman 

Busy.

Meredith Aliff 

So let's dive into your study abroad experience

Maya Mehlman 

Oh, that little thing?

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah. So give me a little insight about your experience with study abroad.

Maya Mehlman 

Yeah, I went to Seville, Spain last semester. I speak no Spanish but obviously I was able to make it through. And it was ... I don't want to sound like one of those like poster children, but like it was life changing and it was incredible. But I did have a little bit of like a unique journey like getting there. I'm a person that very much likes to be comfortable. Like where I am, I don't really like change. So this abroad thing was like going back and forth a lot. Because, to me, I was like, do I really want to not be here for an entire semester when I already like didn't get my freshman year? Because our freshman years were virtual. And I remember it was actually one of my sorority sisters that had said to me, she, she's like, "Maya, you'd be stupid. If you didn't go, you could always create another night at Brick, you cannot create another night in Europe. In your 20s." And my dad was also the one that said, "this works, it works with your credits," you're, once again, never going to get the opportunity again, it would be stupid not to go. So I was like, Okay, I finally took that leap. And I mean, I was not excited. I was crying leading up to the trip. Like, I mean, I was just so nervous. Like, I didn't know what to expect, you know, it's a new place, new people, new courses, new language. I'm also a vegan, which I was really scared about when going to Europe, because there is a really big culture around meat and fish and dairy and all that. But then once I got there, I met like the most incredible people. I was traveling every single weekend, I was going to different countries, and I had the most amazing professors. And it really was amazing. And they really helped with that transition of going abroad. Because one of the things that people don't talk about, it's like whenever anyone posts about it, "amazing," "life changing," which it is, but what they don't talk about is how hard it is.

Meredith Aliff 

Exactly. That's what I was just about to say like, I feel like that's the part that, really, nobody ever talks about. It seems to be this massive, glamorous thing. And that's one thing that, with me getting ready to go abroad this summer, in literally like four weeks, which is crazy.

Maya Mehlman 

So excited for you.

Meredith Aliff 

Thank you. A huge, huge thing that we've been learning about and talking about, as like a group that's about to go abroad, is culture shock, and all these things that aren't really things that you think about, but that are super important to think about.

Maya Mehlman 

Yeah, exactly. That is something that I was like super passionate about, because I'm not gonna lie. For like the first month. I was having fun, but it was still kind of like, if I had the chance to go home right now, like, I would take it. And for a long time, I felt like shame in that because I was like, "Am I doing something wrong?" Because everyone does talk about how this was such an amazing experience when I was yeah, I'm having like a good time. But I wouldn't necessarily say it was like life changing. But then, you know, it's once again, you got to just accept the discomfort, sit in it, and everything comes. Like, it's a process and you know it ... I ended up crying when I had to like, come home. It was amazing. It really was.

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah and I mean, I think it's important to talk about the prep as well, like, obviously, when it was at the beginning of this semester, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to Luxembourg this summer. I'm so excited." And now we're getting closer and I'm like, "Am I ready? Do I have everything that I need?"

Maya Mehlman 

The truth is, and this goes for anyone ever thinking about studying abroad, you're never going to be ready. It's just one of those things that you just have to throw yourself in. And you also have to realize, I mean, compare it to starting at college or any like new job or opportunity, whatever, it's always uncomfortable. You're never going to like figure it out right away. And I mean, it's no different with going abroad. It takes time and you have to be patient. And that's my biggest thing whenever ... I had another friend that is in Paris right now. And she was asking me like advice before she went, I was like, my only advice is to be patient, you're gonna want to come home, you're gonna want to scream, you're gonna want to cry. That's okay. Feel your emotions, it's when you convince yourself you're doing something wrong. Which, you know, is so not true

Meredith Aliff 

Absolutely. So many times on this podcast I have talked to people about, you will never get an opportunity like college ever again in your entire life with probably the lowest amount of responsibility, highest amount of freedom that you will ever have in your entire life. And obviously, there's a lot of responsibility in college, but within that kind of a subgroup is very similar of study abroad. When else will you be able to do that?

Maya Mehlman 

Exactly. And it's also low stakes, you know, kind of like what you were talking about. The worst case scenario, I guess, in college would be like failing an exam. Well, you know, that's a lot better than being in the real world and not being able to pay rent, I guess. But it's the same thing. Like you said, with study abroad, you're never gonna get the chance to just low stakes travel around Europe and your 20s and not have to worry about anything, because that is also super important. Learning about like the world around you. I really got to experience that like, Oh, my God, the way that Europe does things are so different from America, and they're not trying to be America in any way.

Meredith Aliff 

You know, I fully agree. I think ... I had an experience with my family in Italy. We were at this place. And my parents ordered a bottle of wine. We're sitting there doing our thing and we keep sitting there and we're like, where is the waiter?

Meredith Aliff 

Where is the waiter? And so we flagged him and we're like, "Yeah, I think we're ready to order." "Okay, for sure." And so obviously we order it came out speedy, quick, we got pizza and pasta, but we're forcing it down our faces. And then we're like, "oh my gosh, we're ready for a box." And he went, "you Americans. Sit, enjoy your food. Where do you have to be? Where do you have to be? And he was like, Look at this couple over here." And we looked and it was a man and a woman. You know, maybe 30s. And he was "they have been sitting here for two hours, they're gonna finish the pizza. They're just gonna sit here until it's gone. Once they feel like eaten another slice, they're gonna grab another slice. Where are you trying to be? You're in Italy. Enjoy yourself." And we're like, You're so right. And our speedy like fast paced culture. It's such a breath of fresh air.

Meredith Aliff 

You gotta flag him down.

Maya Mehlman 

I know. That is honestly one of the things that I miss most about that just whole culture. What is the rush? You know, you do one thing at a time. Enjoy the moment you're in and then when it's time to do the next thing. It's time to do the next thing. I loved getting like dinner with my friends. Because there really was there was no rush.

Maya Mehlman 

No, not enough at all. I'm like, I'll get through my entire day. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I need to eat." Like ...

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah.

Maya Mehlman 

And here, I feel like I barely even have time to make food for myself. Because I always ... I mean, there's not enough hours in the day here to do everything you want to do.

Meredith Aliff 

I'd be like, "Oh, my God, Is it midnight already?"

Meredith Aliff 

Like, it is eight o'clock and I haven't put a morsel of food into my body. Yeah, I mean, it's just so interesting. And I think that kind of ties back to: do your classes and then experience your time.

Maya Mehlman 

And also, our professors over there knew we are also here to enjoy being here. So they also didn't push a lot of work. I mean, when I wasn't in class, I wasn't thinking about school.

Meredith Aliff 

So what places did you go while you were there?

Maya Mehlman 

Oh, my gosh, so I went to Oktoberfest. Of course. That was like the first big trip. I went to Amsterdam, Paris, London, this surfing town called San Sebastian, where I took a surfing lesson.

Meredith Aliff 

How fun.

Maya Mehlman 

I've never surfed a day in my life. It was so fun. It was so awesome. I went to Barcelona for Halloween, which that was actually really interesting being in Europe for Halloween, because that was another thing. We're like, it's such a big deal here. Yeah, no one was dressed up, which I was kind of upset about because I love Halloween.

Meredith Aliff 

Did you dress up?

Maya Mehlman 

I had little bat years.

Meredith Aliff 

Okay, good. Just to go back for a second on you kind of questioning: Do I want to take a whole semester? That was a really big thing for me when choosing to go in the summer. I'm involved in these things on campus. And I would have to give that up. If I left. And I don't want to do that. But I love the advice that you got from your friend and your dad about you will always get more nights at college. But you will never be able to experience that again.

Maya Mehlman 

Yeah, exactly.

Meredith Aliff 

That is so cool. Well, thank you for sharing so much. Anything else you want to share about it.

Maya Mehlman 

I mean, I'm so excited for you. It's one of those things that you really just can't put into words just like how amazing it is. And I've really just been trying to, like, normalize the feelings that, like, go into it. So my advice for you for when you go is: it's okay, if you're sad. Just because you're in Europe doesn't mean that your problems go away. You're still a person, you're still going through it. Embrace the uncomfortable. Because it will be okay. It will be okay. And, like, it's an amazing experience that not everyone gets to have. But I will say Miami does make it very doable. So it's awesome that you get to go and I think that more students should definitely take advantage of the resources that we have here.

Meredith Aliff 

Well, thank you so much. Calming some nerves, for sure.

Maya Mehlman 

Packing is the worst part. I promise. I hate packing.

Meredith Aliff 

I believe that. I know. I'm like ... I was talking to my parents. I was like, "Guys, I'm gonna be so real with you. You're gonna have to pay that over 50 pound fee because there's no way I'm going to be able to pack less than that for six weeks."

Maya Mehlman 

Oh my God, I know. Yeah.

Meredith Aliff 

So you're back. I'm back. You've had almost a full semester back on campus. How was the transition coming back?

Maya Mehlman 

So that's another big one. So this semester has been really hard. But I also think that's just from like, junior year too, like, I was applying to internships, which we could talk about in a bit. But reverse culture shock is very much a thing. Especially because Miami does do the living off campus junior year. It was my first time living in an apartment. It's my first time cooking for myself and I hate cooking. The course load was ridiculous, and there was just a lot of growing pains coming back. Obviously, I have the most incredible friends in the entire world. But it took like a little while, I guess, to get used to each other again, I guess, just because you know you get used to this one way of living and it doesn't matter who it is, now you have another person and, you know, I was adjusting to everything. But you know what? I've been making it, and I've been doing my best that I can. And sometimes that's all you can ask for.

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah, absolutely. You're hanging in there.

Maya Mehlman 

I'm hanging in there.

Meredith Aliff 

That is just great.

Maya Mehlman 

Exactly. And I feel like a lot of students tell you the same thing. It's like we're just doing the best we can.

Meredith Aliff 

We are holding on.

Maya Mehlman 

But it's one of those things where it's, yes, I'm stressed out. But like, I'm so lucky to be stressed out about, like, this kind of stuff. You know, I really am having a great time in college.

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah. Yeah, let's dive into your internships for a second. What's been your experience with that?

Maya Mehlman 

So my, so I have a internship in Washington, DC this summer. So another thing that Miami offers is all these study away programs, is what they call them, and one of them is Inside Washington. And it is eight credit hours. Four of those go to an internship, and four of those are you're a student. And from my understanding ... Well, I'm kind of in the same boat where you are right now with Luxembourg, because I really don't know what to expect. So every Mondays are academic days, and we're going to be meeting with, like, representatives, we're going to be like touring the city, which I am very excited for. And then every other day is internship days, meaning like Tuesday through Friday, one of the things that is difficult about the media industry is a lot of places like won't hire you unless you have previous experience. So I applied to like 15 places. I wasn't hearing back. And then my mom's friend had a friend that works in production, where they work with this company called Capital Concerts, where they put on the Memorial Day and Fourth of July day concert on the National Mall. And then when they're not based in Washington over the summer, they're in New York working on like the Academy Awards. Which is so cool. And I called. I thought it was just like a friendly like, "Oh, hey." We had a lovely conversation. We talked about like Broadway, like live shows, all that kind of stuff. And I really just thought it was like a nice meet and greet. And then two weeks later, this woman had called me and she's like, "so we want to like offer you a position here." And I'm like, "Are you going to interview me first?" But I called my mom afterwards. And I was like, "she didn't even interview me." And my mom's like, "that was an interview Maya," and I was like, "No, it wasn't. We were just getting to know each other." And .. Yeah, exactly. And this will be something fun to put on my resume, help me build it up a bit.

Meredith Aliff 

Yes. And it'll be a great summer for you. It will. I'm so excited.

Meredith Aliff 

I'm excited to hear about Inside Washington.

Maya Mehlman 

It's, like, people say it's a city run by interns. So I'm just really excited to be in a place with people my age.

Meredith Aliff 

Absolutely. So we have one more year ahead of us here. Where do you see yourself in the future? Where are you hoping that this all leads?

Maya Mehlman 

I kind of pride myself on not putting too much pressure on, like, where I ended up. Because I know everyone says that no one has it figured out. But then I'm like, I feel like me, particularly, I have nothing.

Meredith Aliff 

Like, I actually really don't.

Maya Mehlman 

Like, I really ... I don't know ... I like I just learned how to like make a baked potato.

Meredith Aliff 

[Laughter] I actually just steamed my first bag of broccoli ever in my life like three days ago.

Maya Mehlman 

Yeah. I just learned how to make a bag of minute rice, like, and you're really expecting me to go out there on my own? Like, scary thought. If I think about it too much, I will work myself up and start crying.

Meredith Aliff 

Just taking it one step at a time.

Maya Mehlman 

Right. Maybe, like, I'll run away to Europe.

Meredith Aliff 

Right. Just run. Just flee.

Maya Mehlman 

Yeah. My parents are a little worried about it. Because when I came back from abroad, it was definitely something that I was talking about a lot. And they were like, "Maya, like, you really like have to think this through. Like, we love the idea that, like, you want to go to Europe, but like you have to have a job before you move out there." And I was like, like, "do I, though?"

Meredith Aliff 

Okay, so we've had ourselves a little chat today. I'm headed to Luxembourg. You're headed to Washington.

Maya Mehlman 

To be a big girl.

Meredith Aliff 

So excited for you. And we're gonna have a little chat when we both get back.

Maya Mehlman 

Real quick.

Meredith Aliff 

And I look forward to talking to you then.

Maya Mehlman 

I cannot wait. I cannot wait to hear all about it. You are going to have an amazing time.

Meredith Aliff 

Thank you. So are you. I can't wait.

Maya Mehlman 

Oh my god, I just bought a pantsuit too. My first ever! So cute, So cute.

Meredith Aliff 

Oh my gosh. So official. I know. I need to get some cute Luxenberg outfits. Okay, we'll talk to you in a jiff.

Maya Mehlman 

Yeah, I'll be right back.