Study Abroad
I will never forget touching down at Heathrow and putting my feet on a new continent. I remember my first day in Europe going to Trafalgar Square and feeling like I had completed some sort of time travel as I flew across the Atlantic. This feeling of awe while taking in the ancient architecture and artifacts only grew as I travelled through famous cities such as Rome, Athens, and Berlin. It felt like I was in living history as I walked carefree through Checkpoint Charlie, shared a dorm room in a castle (Schloss Neuwaldegg), and sighed freely while gazing up at the Bridge of Sighs. No other semester of study in my life could produce such profound growth as I experienced that year. My worldview broadened with each passport stamp. I heard new languages, I ate new foods, and I met such wonderful new friends. I had never had to be so brave and vulnerable travelling as a young woman in unfamiliar countries (pre smart phones). My learning was not only academic, but also introspective. Such authentic, experiential learning with all your senses creates memories that do not end after you finish cramming for a final exam. As a teacher, I will seize any opportunity to encourage students to take opportunities to immerse themselves in other cultures. Not only do these experiences teach you about people around the world, they also teach you to understand yourself and your bias through a brand new lens.
International Travel
Throughout my twenties I was fortunate to have had many opportunities to travel as a guest in over twenty countries across five continents. From my studies in Vienna, to meeting long-lost relatives in Tasmania, riding a camel in Morocco, becoming scuba certified in Thailand, or spending a month in Spain, I have been very fortunate to have had many rich experiences around the world.
One of the more impactful international experiences was when I was a student living in Oklahoma, United States. I lived there for three university semesters – my first sustained experience in another culture. I took an American history course when I was there, fascinated to hear their own perspective on their past. Oklahoma’s history in particular had some especially dark patches I had never heard of, including the Trail of Tears and the Tulsa Race Massacre. I found if you were paying attention, echoes from this divisive past continued to reverberate through the present. Oklahoma had a bizzarre mix of Bible belt culture and intergenerational racism. Canada has both systemic and acute racism, but my personal exposure with it at this stage in my life was practically all in theory (or perhaps more likely, beyond what I was taught to see). It was more apparent in the deep south, and I realized how important it was for me to be removed from my happy little bubble and see what reality can look like for other people. As a teacher, I understand my responsibility to help raise children who won’t buy into biases previous generations subscribed to.
Visiting Thailand was another transformative event in my life where I greatly expanded my “comfort zone” and grew in wisdom. Of all the countries I’ve visited, Thailand probably had one of the least western cultures. Many experiences I had were new. The food was my favorite of any international food, it was rich and spicy and totally different from anything I had eaten elsewhere in the world. Writing about it is actually making my mouth water! The scenery and climate were also starkly different than what I had grown up with in Canada. The sights were breathtaking, whether in a quaint village along the Andaman Sea or a Buddhist Temple in Bangkok. I enjoyed satays of street meat and, thankfully, stayed healthy while drinking questionable tap water. I made efforts to use as much Thai language as I could. I remember asking a street-meat vendor what her name was one day and seeing how surprised and pleased she was when I greeted her by her name the next time I stopped by to eat. As much as Thailand has many stark contrasts to Canada, I discovered one thing that was the same: our humanity. We are all doing our best to make our way in this hodgepodge world. We all laugh and cry and occasionally have curry-based indigestion. No matter our differences, we are all equal and deserve to be respected.