The best teacher is experience and not through someone's distorted point of view."
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road
It was Saturday February 8, 2014 when I was in a pub in Brighton with one of my best friend’s partner. It was drizzling outside and couldn't have been much later than 8pm, but the sky had been dark for hours. We spent that day wandering around the streets and by the sea in gusts of heavy wind, ducking into shops and pubs when the rain picked up into sudden bursts of downpours. We had a couple of pints and like many evenings after a few drinks, we started talking about the meaning of life. We opened up about our upbringings and what was most important to us. I, of course, reflected on travel and something he said, or maybe something I said (I can’t remember), brought me back to my time as a grad school student three years ago.
There was an intense focus on social justice awareness and increasing intercultural understanding within my cohort of peers and built into my graduate courses; topics that I myself feel passionate about. But in that pub in Brighton, I was filled with an empty nostalgia. I had recently started my new job as Dean of Students at Harlaxton College and was so focused at that point on being respected by students who looked my age and proving my authority. While there is some validity to those feelings, I realized I had slightly lost sight of why I decided to become an international educator. It wasn’t to reprimand 19 and 20 year olds for drinking too much on occasion (although the resulting broken property and pools of vomit definitely tested my abilities as a disciplinarian). I didn’t get into the field to tell students when and where they could go and what they were allowed and not allowed to do. It wasn’t my goal to sit in long bureaucratic meetings either.
I was drawn to the field of study abroad to work with students going through intercultural transformation. To help guide them on their roads of self-discovery and expand their worldviews to be more inclusive of other perspectives and ways of life. To find their own voice, build their confidence and discover their passions. To grow their concepts of what is considered “normal” and “right” in order to build positive connections across cultures. I have met too many Americans who think their way of life in the United States is the best and one right way to live, and believe that all other cultures, and subcultures, should and want to “develop” to their own standards.
There was an intense focus on social justice awareness and increasing intercultural understanding within my cohort of peers and built into my graduate courses; topics that I myself feel passionate about. But in that pub in Brighton, I was filled with an empty nostalgia. I had recently started my new job as Dean of Students at Harlaxton College and was so focused at that point on being respected by students who looked my age and proving my authority. While there is some validity to those feelings, I realized I had slightly lost sight of why I decided to become an international educator. It wasn’t to reprimand 19 and 20 year olds for drinking too much on occasion (although the resulting broken property and pools of vomit definitely tested my abilities as a disciplinarian). I didn’t get into the field to tell students when and where they could go and what they were allowed and not allowed to do. It wasn’t my goal to sit in long bureaucratic meetings either.
I was drawn to the field of study abroad to work with students going through intercultural transformation. To help guide them on their roads of self-discovery and expand their worldviews to be more inclusive of other perspectives and ways of life. To find their own voice, build their confidence and discover their passions. To grow their concepts of what is considered “normal” and “right” in order to build positive connections across cultures. I have met too many Americans who think their way of life in the United States is the best and one right way to live, and believe that all other cultures, and subcultures, should and want to “develop” to their own standards.
Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”
― Gustave Flaubert (French novelist)
I decided that evening, February 8, that I needed to get back to work and do what I feel is most important when working with U.S. students traveling abroad, many for the first time. Even in England, there is a lot of intercultural learning to be had. And so I came back to Harlaxton after that weekend in Brighton with a renewed sense of purpose, only to realize I didn’t know where to start. I had already developed an intercultural training plan as an intern at Harlaxton one year ago that included several workshops with goals of increased intercultural competency. But finding the time and interest among students who spend almost every waking moment either in class, studying, or traveling (or in pubs) seemed nearly impossible. Plus I was still building my confidence as a leader and educator—and still am—and wasn't sure how to approach the subject mid-way through the semester.
The reality of daily emails, the constant issues with students arising (roommates, noise complaints, that unsympathetic professor, etc.), and the occasional disciplinary situations to deal with kept me away from my intentions of intercultural training. Towards the end of the semester, as I got to know students better, I began to have more conversations with them about their travels and experiences as a foreigner living abroad. I was encouraged to find that many of them expressed discovery and growth in the very lessons I was hoping to help teach. Through their successes and challenges of exploring various places in Europe (and a few in Morocco), as well as meeting people from all over the globe, students were noticeably more confident, informed and conscientious travelers and young adults by the end of their sixteen weeks abroad. This was a needed reminder for me that the power of pure experience on its own is transformational. Stepping outside of our comfort zone, pushing our boundaries, getting lost, meeting new people, having conversations about life and values (including with those who think differently than us) is, to me, the best teacher we can have.
The reality of daily emails, the constant issues with students arising (roommates, noise complaints, that unsympathetic professor, etc.), and the occasional disciplinary situations to deal with kept me away from my intentions of intercultural training. Towards the end of the semester, as I got to know students better, I began to have more conversations with them about their travels and experiences as a foreigner living abroad. I was encouraged to find that many of them expressed discovery and growth in the very lessons I was hoping to help teach. Through their successes and challenges of exploring various places in Europe (and a few in Morocco), as well as meeting people from all over the globe, students were noticeably more confident, informed and conscientious travelers and young adults by the end of their sixteen weeks abroad. This was a needed reminder for me that the power of pure experience on its own is transformational. Stepping outside of our comfort zone, pushing our boundaries, getting lost, meeting new people, having conversations about life and values (including with those who think differently than us) is, to me, the best teacher we can have.
Travel brings power and love back into your life."
― Rumi (13th century Persian poet, jurist and theologian)
I feel incredibly grateful to have found a purpose and to live it everyday by being able to integrate my passion, mission, profession and vocation. (Perhaps it is just an illusion that I have integrated these, but an illusion I am content with having).
I have found this so-called purpose through travel, experience and education. And I believe everyone can find their own purpose through a journey outside of oneself; one that leads to self-discovery... within a global context. This doesn’t require that you leave your country or even hometown, but it does require an openness to pushing boundaries, trying new things, considering alternative interpretations, interacting with people who experience different realities, putting yourself in others' shoes and reflecting.
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
― Marcel Proust (French novelist, critic and essayist)
I haven’t given up on my intention of enhancing students’ intercultural understanding and awareness through workshops and trainings. In fact, I led a travel seminar earlier this afternoon for forty summer school students who arrived yesterday and incorporated an exercise I call “Interpretive Theatre.” Even though verbal participation was low (I will attribute this to their jet lag), I did sense a heightened awareness and moments of learning for many of them through their facial expressions as the point of the exercise became clear. That we must be aware of our own cultural biases and approach unfamiliar situations with suspended judgment and an open mind; that our internal assumptions may be incorrect and lead to misunderstandings across cultural boundaries.
It’s exciting to remember that we are all still in the process of meeting ourselves. I am also on a journey, like my students, of becoming more aware of who I am and working to become the person I want to be, ideally with a component of social justice and intercultural understanding. Travel will always be a part of me and continue to teach me, and travel—in its many forms—has the power to help anyone find their purpose. It's just a matter of opening our minds and seizing the moments of "travel" in our everyday lives.
It’s exciting to remember that we are all still in the process of meeting ourselves. I am also on a journey, like my students, of becoming more aware of who I am and working to become the person I want to be, ideally with a component of social justice and intercultural understanding. Travel will always be a part of me and continue to teach me, and travel—in its many forms—has the power to help anyone find their purpose. It's just a matter of opening our minds and seizing the moments of "travel" in our everyday lives.
Travel far enough, you meet yourself.”
― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (English novelist)