Coming Home

As Matthew Lynch explains in his Huffington Post Article "Diverse Conversations: The Globalization of Higher Education," it's become necessary for US post-secondary education institutions to provide global experience for their students. It has become just as much a marketing point as an educational opportunity for students. That being said, Allegheny has attempted to achieve this through programs such as the one I am finishing up now. To be cliché, the time I have spent here has definitely been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The education I've received extends far beyond the lectures I've attended for my classes. For example, just settling myself into a country using a different currency was a learning experience.

One of the biggest realizations I've come to by spending a semester abroad is how central America truly is to the world. For better or for worse, the global spotlight seems to be on America more than other countries. I understand that this could come across as a subjective view on things, but that statement is based off of conversations and interactions I've had with people I've met from across the world on this trip. At times it was almost embarrassing to have conversations with people because they knew so much about what was going on in America, but I had very little knowledge of politics and culture of Australia. Since arriving here, I have been familiarized with the culture, but it overlaps with American culture so much. The experience has given me the opportunity to make connections not only in Australia, but around the world. So many students come to James Cook University to study outside their home country, I've come to know people from all over the world. In this sense, I've gotten an understanding of how other cultures work as well. For example, I have made friends with people from England, Germany, Canada, Denmark, China, and more.  I have not only had the opportunity to create life-long friends around the world, but I have had the privilege of being exposed to different cultures and how getting a better idea on how the global community works.

As for helping to understand my own place in the world, my experience here has shown me that I could not live in northern Queensland, Australia. It was a wonderful place to visit and to experience, but there is no way I would be able to live here for a few reasons. First of all, the climate is not suited for me. I prefer a change in seasons. Although I can tell the climate has changed slightly since I've arrived, there is not a drastic change in seasons from the beginning to the end. The industry I want to work in and help to improve is the agriculture industry and the process of sustainable food production to feed the growing population of the Earth. However, Currently, Australia is fundamentally behind America when it comes to alternative forms of agriculture. In order for me to build off of and work with the current agricultural revolution, America or Europe is the place to be.

All in all, I've had the privilege of expanding my education in a foreign environment, meeting incredible people, and understanding where my geographical place and my social place in the world belongs.

Coming Home

After having spent a year abroad I feel like I have learned to truly appreciate parts of my life that I used to take for granted. The simple and small things are sometimes those that other people around the world struggle to receive. I am blessed with the life and opportunities I was given and I honestly see those aspects in my life that seemed normal. Being exposed to a culture where the majority of the population struggles in some sense opened my eyes to see that the western lifestyle is rare.

I learned so much from going Morocco since it has a different culture than what I am used to. I believe that it is an important aspect to begin to learn more about the world and become accustomed diversified cultures. The world is becoming more intermixed and I think study abroad can aid students with sheltered perceptions. Since I have lived in a small town in the States I have not been exposed to seeing Arabic people. It was amazing to be able to meet these people. Even though we dressed differently, had different skin colors and came from different backgrounds, I noticed repeatedly from my experience that all people are truly the same when we look past surface level perceptions.

Coming Home

I did not receive any form of a global education while studying at the Duke Marine Lab.  It was located within a small town in the United States with low cultural diversity, there were no international students, and the subject materials did not focus on international problems or awareness. Even in my ecology course that focused on environmental issues, we did not focus on international issues or cohesion for solving problems.  This was very surprising to me as the majority of my environmental science courses at Allegheny have had a large focus on international information.  This is very logical to me because by nature, environmental problems are global and the ability to solve them requires communication between cultures as well as cultural understanding.  For example, Americans cannot attempt to fix the deforestation problems occurring in South America without understanding the cultural significance behind them.  Without respect for another culture, you cannot hope to tackle their environmental problems that have global implications.

This overall lack of global education at the Duke program I attended was one of the major pitfalls.  However, I believe this occurred because it was such a small program with only twenty-two students so it is difficult to ensure a diversity of students that includes international students.  Additionally, with block scheduling courses were only three or four weeks long which did not give professors very much time to delve into subjects at the depth a standard 16-week long course might.

Fortunately, at Allegheny I have a much better experience with this globalized education.  A large portion of my friends are international students from South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Morocco.  Therefore, I gain significant personal experience through my time with them, primarily through direct questioning.  I frequently find myself asking my international friends series of cultural-related questions.  Although I am sure it is annoying to them to some degree, I find it very beneficial to indirectly gain a different perspective of the world.  Many things are so different that I never would have suspected it.  Beyond friendship, I gain a lot of intercultural awareness by having international students in the same classroom as me, especially in discussion based classes.  For example, a student from Singapore was in my FS 201 course, and he often incorporated culturally-based viewpoints into the discussion to indicate how environmental perceptions can influence decision making.  An example that I recall is the idea of not overfishing as it negatively impacts both the ecosystem as well as the people through depletion of a food source.  However, on an individual level you cannot judge individual fishermen for overfishing or fishing endangered species as they are relying on it for survival and to provide for their family.  It is not as if they are at the same socioeconomic status as all of us at this expensive liberal arts college, they do not necessarily have the privilege to take into consideration the long term, global implications of their actions when they are just trying to survive.

Overall, I agree with the author that global education is critical because regardless of whether or not globalization is a beneficial phenomenon, it is already occurring-- business, travel, education, philosophy, war, and environmental problems are not isolated to single countries and cannot be understood without the incorporation of a global perspective.  Even the most well-intentioned, open-minded person can become trapped by their American or western perspective and inaccurately view it as the norm or the only way of approaching a situation.  It is impossible to view things broadly without actually thinking about things broadly by incorporating global information and actually including people from different cultures into the foundation of the educational system-- through the student body, professors, and material.  I have learned a lot from my friends that I never would have if I attended a college similar to my high school: no international students, and all middle to upperclass white students from conservative/republic households i.e. the epitome of a lack of diversity. Growing up in that environment then entering college demonstrated to me how inadvertently closed-minded you become regardless of how much you strive to think open-mindedly.

A global perspective greatly affects the way you interact with the world.

Coming Home

To say that I learned a lot during this past semester is an understatement. I had always thought that "experiential learning" was just a way to make a class/program sound more educational and fancy when it didn't actually provide anything more than a normal class/program, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Experiential learning is really a real thing that is absolutely beneficial to anyone and everyone. I never thought I'd be able to learn so much in one semester.

I agree with the author of "The Globalization of Higher Education"– global education, like experiential learning, is a crucial aspect of education that is extremely beneficial to many facets of education and life in general. Even though the majority of my semester technically wasn't "abroad," I still experienced different cultures that I had never experienced before, whether in the United States or in St. John, USVI. I can honestly say that what I learned, saw, and experienced has changed my perception on life. I was extremely fortunate to have been able to have this opportunity because I got to experience things that the "average" person has not experienced. From snorkeling twice everyday for two weeks in St. John, to participating in dolphin communication research and conducting research on plastic marine debris, I can now say that I have had a more well-rounded educational experience than the average undergraduate student.

Coming Home

There are always two sides to every story.  I have heard this phrase since I was a kid, but, over my four months in Israel, it has developed a deeper meaning.  One of the focus points for my school in Israel has been peace building particularly concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  I lived with Israeli and Arab students, and we all sat in weekly seminars to discuss this conflict and ways to build peace.  Different sides of this conflict were taught through people’s narratives.  Students told their stories, and we heard other narratives through guest speakers and others we met along our journeys.  Just like the old phrase there are always two sides to every story, there are many sides to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  History is thought to be facts, but the history can change depending on who is telling the story.  In all of these narratives, who is right and who is wrong concerning this conflict?  Is there a right and wrong?  Actions taken by Israelis or Palestinians fall in various places along the morality scale depending on whose scale it is.  All of this can seem like a confusing jumble of histories, cultures, and personal stories especially to an outsider like me.  However, I have also learned many lessons about myself and the world through it.  

Through my time here my education has certainly been more about outside the classroom learning than inside.  Interacting with my diverse group of peers has helped me to gain a greater patience in dealing with cultural differences.  It has taught me to be more forgiving of both myself and others when cultural mistakes or miscommunication happens.  Through talking extensively about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I have learned to listen and to really hear people.  I may not agree with someone’s point, but I can understand what motivated his or her thoughts and maybe even empathize with his or her reasoning.  Israelis have also taught me how to honestly argue my point and stick up for my views.  I now find myself more openly telling people I disagree with them or if I have an issue with someone bringing it up to him or her in an attempt to solve it whereas in the past I would have held my tongue.  

Applying this to the world, when I meet someone from another culture I will definitely try to use patience and forgiveness.  I will actively listen to understand where he or she is coming from and know that he or she has a narrative to tell.  As Dr. George B. Forsythe, President of Westminster College said, the community we live and interact in is a global one.  I will work or interact with people from another culture many times in the future, and these skills that I have learned while in Israel will help me to have successful, meaningful interactions.  As an individual in the world, it can seem daunting to try and figure out where your place is.  In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I often find myself wondering if I can even do anything in this conflict to make any sort of difference.  I do not know the answer to this question.  As a fellow human, do I owe it to the less fortunate and less privileged to help them achieve equality or would my presence further complicate things?  Maybe the next great skill I have to master is understanding when to be involved in a cross cultural conflict and when to simply listen and learn from it.  

Me - dressed in my travel gear ready to great the world.

Coming Home

Globalization is a trend that developed during the modern era, when wars and colonization were over. In my opinion, it was born as a positive sign that reflected the peace-making spirits shared across nations Germov & Poole (2015, pp.372-373) refer to globalization as the increasing interdependence between countries world-wide with three aspects: economic, political, and cultural. This is where education comes to play. Knowledge drawn from tourism or public media perhaps only informs us at the surface about intercultural knowledge. Beyond that, education provides us tools and materials to understand all three aspects of globalization in depth. This is my viewpoint -- that to achieve globalization needs education. At the same time, to understand and teach globalization, education needs to be globalized.

 In the next few paragraphs, I am going to discuss some aspects of globalized education and study abroad experiences. Education is essential because it not only teaches students what they want to learn, but also what they need to learn, regardless of their awareness of how important the provided lessons could be. This is the crucial vision of education, of which globalization is an example. 

Living in either a small town or a big city centers our comfort zone around the familiar notion of home in those terms. It is education that challenges us to step out of those comfort zones, and that gives us tools (i.e. the knowledge) to do so. Furthermore, even when one has been already inspired through media or others' storytelling about a dream place, which s/he wants to visit one day; it is education that gives more accurate information about the place, and allows one to think realistically before making the decision. The duty of education is to develop a useful vision of the future, and transfer that to its learners. In my opinions, a good education is one that assists and shows students what steps are needed to achieve a better future. Therefore, the fact that American higher education (as well as other countries' education) tend to provide a global education can be explained by the fact that countries now have to work together to tackle common challenges and build a shared future.

According to Australia's education, beaches and parks are local heritage.
The Great Reef Barrier and natural landscape are national and world heritage

From the preceding argument, what are the small steps that American colleges and universities hope that we learn to develop this collaborative vision? There are so many to list, and some of the lessons have been mentioned in previous blog entries. In term of politics, a college education at home could educate one to understand relationships at a global scale between countries, and study abroad could provide one more insights about the political views and system of the host county with historical background. In term of economics, there is always the interconnectedness between countries and their trade and financial systems that determines financial power.  In term of cultures, this is an interesting one, because study-abroad marketing uses this aspect and sometimes even overuses it to attract applications from interested students. But it is widely used, because it works well. Students tend to apply for a study-abroad program because of the curiosity regarding what is waiting for them at their destination. Hence, a good globalized education needs to strike a balance between attracting students and providing them with skills and knowledge that can help them when they graduate. I also suggest that good study abroad marketing in an educational institution should tend to focus on the content, which is on the specific materials that study away programs in each country offer to students case-by-case.

A closer look at the Australian coins. They reflect
some of the Australian historical, political and cultural values

So what are the pros to studying abroad? The benefit is that one would learn and absorb a lot of new things. One could get to take subjects or courses that home school could not provide. One could hear from a perspective or a narrative voice that he or she could not find from home country. For example, I have understood the Australian cultures from both non-indigenous and indigenous people in dept and could get to hear the Australian national identity from its education. One's identity could potentially expand as through experiences while abroad. For instance, I now find myself an Westernized Asian who can fit well in both America and Australia and is able to make a lot of international friends with this experience base and cosmopolitan identity. I have also developed intercultural communication skills and the ability to deal with unforeseen situations so that I have developed throughout my study-abroad experience. Also, studying abroad has made me more flexible and creative in thinking.

No pain, no gain. There are some cons that one should keep in mind when they decide to study away from home. Some foreseen ones would be the financial burden and language barriers. Additionally, cultural differences can create cultural shocks that one would not expect until they are actually experiencing them. Homesickness can have a tremendous impact on one's mental health, because it creeps up in slow and subtle ways. Beyond that, being away from home could reduce bonding and closeness on relationships as home with family members and friends, especially in the long-term . Then there is the fact that although you have invested a lot of your money in your education abroad, there is no promise that it will be fruitful later on. Not to mention, there can be a lot of expectations from your parents since they have invested so much on your education.

In short, American higher education has prioritized globalization and decided to steer its students toward this path. However, taking into account that American institutions are not the only ones that find globalization important, it is safe to say that globalization and its significance are internationally weighted. In addition, before deciding to study abroad, one must do a cost-benefit calculation. Besides that, students must know themselves and the conditions they are into before and during studying-away process. And the last take home message that I have for students who are about to make this decision is that while you are abroad, involving in local activities are the great way to learn new things, to get much out of this investment and to benefit from unexpected knowledge. In other words, the spirit of getting out of your comfort zone and taking up challenges as promising opportunities is the key to real personal growth.

"...taken into account that American institutions 
are not only ones which find globalization important, it is safe to say 
that globalization and its significance are internationally weighted"

References:

Germov, J. & Poole, M. (2015) Public Sociology: An Introduction to Australian Society. Sydney: Allen and Unwin. (3^rd edition).

Coming Home

When I was selecting where to study abroad for the spring semester of 2015, I had not no idea what to expect when I got to Seville. All I knew what was that I needed to study somewhere and that it was better for it to be a place which was not English but not too challenging an environment, so I picked Spain. Now that everything is done, I am supremely confident that I could not have chosen a better city in which to complete my study abroad. The program which arranged for my studies here (Spanish Studies Abroad) as well as my university (Pablo de Olavide) were a good set of institutions which led me to consistently examine my experience in the context of the whole process of study abroad and cultural awareness

All of my courses in some way or another were designed to help me appreciate the cultural diversity of the world in the political economic and cultural spheres with subjects ranging from the global economy to medical anthropology to pragmatics of the Spanish language. Within in all of these courses were various elements of human society and how people interact with a key element being the question of how to create a harmonious environment where one could be understood and respected for their ideas while working with others who want the same thing. I believe this falls in line with the statement on academic content from the article "Globalization of Higher Education", speaking for how course content has become more about educating the student as to their place in an increasingly interconnected world.

I suppose my experience at my student residence also gave me some aid in the immersion process, perhaps not as much as living with a family could have provided could have shown but the lessons were still valid. As I had done at Allegheny during my freshman year, I shared a room with Jose, a student who was from Ronda and due to this, we principally communicated in Spanish and we managed to get along without any major incidents aside from the minor gripes associated with sharing a small space. That certainly was an interesting dynamic  which I had to get used to and was a bit of a challenge. However, going through it, I always say the value in bringing people from different countries together because so much of our perspective is tied to where we are born for it informs our attitudes, behaviors, and customs. I will say that I was not as fully immersed in the Spanish culture as I could of been but I can say for sure that I am at least more practiced in my Spanish which I hope to use to great effect as part of my senior composition.

My bed is on the left. It was actually pretty comfortable.

I will say that after doing a bit of traveling to places such as London and  Paris, very recently, I believe I have much more to learn as to how people arrange their lives today and how such cities can be very diverse in their own right, becoming microcosms of tradition and modernity which is one reason I chose Spain and Seville in particular for its diverse past. Going from this back to the United States will hopefully make me appreciate the diversity in the U.S as new cultures arrive almost daily. I will also say that I think this experience I have had with studying abroad can give me at least a small window into how it might feel to be an international student coming to Allegheny from across the world and being in a new place and culture. Indeed it can be jarring and really how one handles it is very much a personal process and a helping hand or even a simple "Hello" is always appreciated. What I think helps is knowing that Allegheny is committed to all of its students no matter where they come from, bringing about the "unusual combinations" held so dear to the Allegheny community.  

Perspective is a funny thing.