When the time came for me to study abroad, a global pandemic was taking place that made traveling near to impossible. I chose to take a class that was being offered to count as my study abroad experience. The class was focused on civic engagement and I had learned a great deal culturally that I will take with me into my field of study.

One of the main assignments was to interview a colleague of my professor that was culturally involved. My interviewee was Mr. Tengku Bahar, a photo editor of the AFP who was originally from Malaysia. I was amazed at all his experiences studying abroad and his stories of his time working in the journalism field. His biggest impact on me was through our discussion on documenting natural disasters across the globe. He states in my interview, “We are vultures.” He was referencing the documentation of someone’s sadness of living through a painful time. We do not let them grieve their pain or process the result of a life being torn apart from nature’s cruel way of acting. It is important to document the event, but not at the expense of someone’s right to grieve. That message will be with me for as long as I can remember for when I enter my field of public history.