“What’s the most transformative educational experience you’ve had?” Essay My “lifelong awakening to the complexity of the world” (Bruni, Colleges Priceless Value) was repeated exposure to a foreign country from a very young age. As a child, I did not question my presence in the pew beside my parents during Sunday mass, and in the classroom learning Polish on Saturdays. When I began pestering my parents with complaints, they recognized that it would slowly but surely give rise to the dreaded rebellious teenage years. While I was given answers that could always be countered with another “but why," I still continued to do the very things I was questioning. But why? Much like Bruni, I continued “to ask questions ... and ... learn[ed] to live with those questions” (Bruni, Colleges Priceless Value). That irritating self awareness was much more than just a nuisance; it signified a shift in my consciousness as a young adult. …show more content…
Throwing oneself into an entirely different culture for a few weeks a year, is one of the most intellectually gratifying things I have come to experience. It exposed me to the fact that there is more to life than meets the eye. Accepting its complexity is almost as important as understanding what makes it complex. My visits to Poland have opened my one dimensional mindset, and allowed for more complicated reasoning. Traveling also forces an individual into strange situations they are unaccustomed to, and shows that not everything can be learned in a classroom. It teaches politics, economy, history, geography and less general things such as the ability to explore, grow, and make mistakes. They are left with the satisfaction of doing things they never knew they could
Whenever I was a child I loved learning about other cultures. I remember learning how to sing “Silent Night” in German with my grandmother before I could sing the English version. When I entered the fifth grade, I began learning about Japanese culture and the language with my piano teacher, using “Big Bird Goes to Japan” as my guide. For many years, I have dreamed about going abroad for an extended stay so I could truly learn how different areas are. I have been to England for an educational tour, and have been out of the country for vacation, but have never truly been able to immerse myself in different environments. For someone born in as small a town as I was, immersion is the most appealing aspect of studying abroad. At my university, we have many options for studying abroad, but the one that has always called out to me is a “Maymester” in Italy.
A cultural getaway can only positively affect you. It helps you to give back, to help out and to appreciate in innumerable ways your life upon return. You lose the callousness and egotistic attitude that can sometimes develop when you can’t relate to that region of the world. And, it compels you to help others and give back.
Until now, I have travelled Japan, The United Kingdom and The United States. Although it may not be too much, traveling gave me a total different view and new insight to understand and think about the whole world. I found only travelling can let you learn and draw a lot when enjoying the fabulous scene. So I always believe that a person need more travel experiences to correct and promote himself.
For the first 10 years of my life, living in a small town in Kansas was all I knew. That was, until my father decided he was being called to join the military. Our first duty station in Japan was a complete turn-around from land-locked Kansas. We went from flowing fields of grain to beautiful, blue oceans. Through this, I was able to experience different culture and living-styles. I believe that should you have the opportunity to travel, you should jump at the chance. Whether it’s on a road trip across the country, or flying over the ocean, wherever you go, you are sure to find diversity among people. I believe whole-heartedly that in seeing new cultures, you can grow exponentially more than if you never left your home town. Traveling and
Traveling offers endless opportunities to consistently learn, and achieve new objectives. This includes but is not limited to, trying varieties of dishes, encountering new individuals, and gaining a sense of accomplishment, and victory. The amount of opportunities to learn, teach and share characteristics such as these are endless, and experiences like these are priceless. Being a world traveler has impacted me deep and permanently and has changed my ideas on life for the better. There is no greater feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction as there is when you are a world traveler. The earth is more beautiful than man can perceive. Life is an adventure. The world is your
Experiences that come from becoming a part of another climate, culture and environment help a person grow into the best person they can be. Doing anything outside of the usual, like travelling or studying abroad, can show both strengths and weaknesses. In 2012, I travelled to Nepal on a mission trip. That experience showed many weaknesses in myself. When asked to share my part, I felt timid and unequipped to fulfill my role. Following those first few
I have always found different cultures and diversity around the world very interesting and in the years to come a goal that I have set for myself is to travel and experience new things in different countries of the world. I have already traveled to a couple different places such as the Dominican Republic on a missions trip or to the Bahamas on vacation and already seen how much you can learn from people of different cultures and the diversity in different places. Throughout college especially I hope to have the opportunity to study abroad, whether it be on a medical mission to Africa, or studying tropical diseases in Costa Rica, or just studying a semester in a university in England, I believe all this can not only be eye opening but it can
Increase Your Experiences: When we travel, we may notice that some of the things we've heard about the world end up being very different than what we have indoctrinated and conditioned to believe. However, exploration and expedition broadens our horizon. By living the different situation and gaining enough knowledge, we feel more competent and enthusiast on coming back to home. People who travel a lot in life are always ready to embrace the changes and have a natural ability to handle any problem with confidence.
When you study abroad, being exposed to another culture or way of living can be shocking, especially when you first arrive. These barriers take some time to overcome, depending on where you choose to study. Many students choose to study abroad in Europe or Asia, as well as South or Central America. Understanding and appreciating how another culture other than your own works is important to promote self growth and awareness. After a study abroad program in Ghana, results from the group of students showed that they gained more knowledge of worldly geography and cultural sensitivity. (Smith) Although the students only went for 21 days, they gained something from their trip that will stick with them for the rest of their
Settling for Tourism- Educational visits and mission trips all too easily is little more thinly disguised tourism. Travel offers significant opportunities to engage with other cultures; but it is far, far from guaranteed that travel in and of itself will amount it much more than self- preoccupation in a more exotic location. Increased superficial exposure to members of other cultural groups may result in little more than solidifying existing stereotypes. It has to do with how intercultural learning can be the response to the call loves our
Educational learning is detrimental when traveling in order to avoid biases towards other cultures and to create an awareness of the differences in these other cultures to avoid disrespect. The affects of traveling are stated in numerous texts throughout the course. All the readings seem to direct to the conclusion that traveling is most respectable through studying and gaining knowledge of the natives’ culture rather than volunteering through service which is belittling. Educational traveling allows for individuals to learn natives’ culture, behaviors, and daily routines allowing for the awareness of the proper practices of the native country. This leads me to determine the correct thesis to be: Americans who travel should go “to study, not to help”.
I think studying abroad makes you gain some self confidence and know how to handle responsibilities by yourself. I will be able to rebuild my life from scratch. I will get to meet different people who lead to different cultures and I will meet an entirely new culture. I will get to ask the friends I will make about how is law back in their countries. How does their law differ from ours? I will be able to explore the world, the world that I yet didn’t see. I will get to see how education is in different countries and get to experience it. Being an international student will help meet other international students and I will get to ask and see how cultures differ and what are their traditions are like. The steps I take are my future; I am the one who move my feet towards the goal I want. It is what I want to be and what I will hopefully be. There isn’t anyone who could stop me from being what or who I want to become. Yes I will be alone and I will get lost a lot of times but that is part of rebuilding who I am. That'll teach me loads of things I never knew and I will learn more about
As a person who has never been out of the country, the impulse for studying, exploring, and living abroad is enormous. Studying abroad will change my perspective about the world. From my own experience, I want to show people the personal and professional growth that one can
Throughout my life, I have lived and been educated in different countries such as Albania, Italy, Germany, and United States of America. My education and the foundation of my own thinking have traveled with me from one continent to the other. Within this diverse learning experience, my learning concept was enriched with opportunities that have shaped and reshaped my thinking.
Although I was raised in a globally aware family of travelers, nothing could have prepared me for the experience of living in another country with an unfamiliar culture. The idea that I would be separated from everything I knew and dropped into a new way of life was not unfamiliar to me, however, as I had been raised with the expectation that I would one day become an exchange student like my mother had. Both of my parents had travelled their share of the world before getting married, and understood and instilled in me the importance of understanding other cultures. They also made a point to incorporate aspects of other countries in our daily lives and bring me along on business trips overseas before I can even remember. Travelling abroad alone at the age of 16 was an incredible experience, and one that will forever impact the way that I look at the world. Despite my upbringing, I still had been impacted by the culture of America, which although containing people from all around the world still contains some extensive pride and cultural superiority. Being in a different environment surrounded by people who were all raised differently than myself and who in general thought differently awakened me to my previously closeminded view of the world. I had to think differently there, and be more aware of my actions in fear of making a mistake, despite constant reassurance that I was allowed to mess up.