Travel and Study Abroad
My travel and study abroad experiences have greatly contributed to (1) enabling me to think globally and with different cultural perspectives, (2) enhancing my fluency in Spanish, and (3) opening my eyes to the fact that there is so much more to the world than our own community.
Prior to college I traveled to two countries: Israel (September, 2010) and Costa Rica (June, 2013). During my time at Texas A&M, I have traveled to 4 countries through my participation in Texas A&M programs : Germany (March, 2014), Qatar (March, 2015), Ecuador (Summer, 2015), and Perú (Summer, 2015). Below is a summary of each experience and how it contributed to my character and personal development:
1. Israel (September 2010)
In September of 2010, I was blessed to be able to participate in a ten-day pilgrimage to Israel through my Aunt's church in Dallas. This was my first experience outside of the country and it opened my eyes to the variety of world cultures and how people think differently in different parts of the world.
2. Costa Rica (June 2013)
In June of 2013, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica with my high school's Spanish class for two weeks. This trip was designed as a Spanish immersion program. Students who participated in the spoke Spanish as much as possible during the trip.
The first week was spent touring the country with our guide. We river rafted, hiked in the forest, zip lined, visited an organic farm, met with students from an elementary school, and swam near La Fortuna waterfall. The second week was spent with our individual host families in the small mountain town of Santa Cruz de León. My host family lived in a very small house, but were very generous and shared their limited space with me. This experience helped me truly understand Costa Rican culture by living with a family and getting to know their life stories through a personal interaction with the Costa Rican people. |
3. Cornerstone Liberal Arts: Germany (March 2014)
As part of the competitive Cornerstone Liberal Arts Program at Texas A&M, I and 47 of my other classmates went with our professor, Dr. Don Curtis, to Berlin, Germany, for a week. This program was designed to supplement our learning within Dr. Curtis' specialized history class and, additionally, to help us with our individual research projects. With the exception of a planned tour of the Reichstag and Sachsenhausen concentration camp, we had the freedom to go to whatever museums, sites, or areas that interested us. Thus, in addition to spending time in Berlin, I and 13 other friends planned a trip to Dresden to visit the famous remnants of the Dresden firebombing of WWII.
This experience helped me realize that it is possible to survive in a foreign country with no working ability of the foreign language and also helped me learn about the complex history of Germany--the primary driver of European history since the early 1900s. |