As J. Daniel Hess writes in his book, Studying Abroad/Learning Abroad, reflection on our actions is one of the most difficult things that a foreigner does. He writes, “How does one effectively grasp the meaning of a critical event and the essence of a new culture, understanding it in sufficient depth not only to appreciate its dynamic complexities but also to function comfortably as a participant.” These questions were always in my mind especially as I was by myself. In hindsight I may have tread too carefully in some areas. Hess describes the difference between the theory-application model, and the action-reflection-response model. Hess encouraged all intercultural travelers to learn by reflecting on past event rather than simply reading …show more content…
I saw a ticket machine that people were buying tickets at and I realized that I didn’t have small enough bills to buy a ticket. I thought about going to the information desk to see where I could get change for a smaller bill, but then a homeless man who was wide eyed and might have been under the affect of drugs came up to me and shouted something in German. It was quite the experience and even now I don’t have a better idea for what I should have done, I simply stood there until he went away. Just then my bus pulled up, I saw more people get on, some swiping tickets and some not, so I got on without a ticket and nobody said anything. Soon after the bus arrived at a train station and we all switched to a slow moving train that wound its way through the alpine hills. Halfway to my destination something unexpected happened, a British family who was apparently living in that area got on board. In contrast to the dead silence that had existed the first half of the train ride, the car was suddenly full of loud conversation between two very British children. In that moment I could see that others on the train seemed less at ease, as if the silence had been comforting. Eventually we reached the end of the line, and I only had about half a …show more content…
I took the bus from Fulpmes up to Innsbruck, and at this point I had enough knowledge of the bus lines to navigate to the airport. Even though my flight left early the next morning, I didn’t have enough money left to stay in the Fulpmes hotel an extra night, and I wouldn’t have been able to get to the Innsbruck airport in enough time to make my flight at 6:30 am. I got to the airport and checked my luggage. I realized that I didn’t have a good way of getting to the airport in the morning and explained my situation to an airport information desk worker. She said that unfortunately the terminal closed at midnight and that it reopened at 5:00, so I would have to find a hotel in the area. Thankfully, while preparing for the trip Christina Fitzpatrick had advised that I install the Trip Advisor app on my phone. Trip Advisor has a hotel booking function that allowed me to look up hotels in the area, find a room, and pay for it all at once. I was able to get a room in a hotel only 30 minutes away from the airport. I knew that this would be my best bet because I would have to walk from my hotel to the airport because it was so early. I arrived at the hotel only to find that the owner didn’t speak English; however, since I had already interacted with non- English speakers before, I used what German I knew to explain that I had booked a room online. Like most Austrian people I met, she was patient with my poor German and we were
In staging reality, setting is critical for both Chad and Undine’s performances. In expatriate fiction, Europe is associated with more freedom than Puritanical America and is used as a medium for performers to present and explore both themselves and cultural and social differences between their home in America and abroad. In Going Abroad, William Stowe suggests that Europe is a space in which higher class and non-essential laborers can “prepare for or advance their careers” (Stowe 7). As a continent with a vast collection of cultural goods, Europe conflicts with the barren American landscape. Acquiring a “Europeanized” persona helps Undine and Chad to gain experience that they employ at home, and cultural accumulation provides an advantage
Taking a global perspective will lead me to see that different places have different cultures. A culture can be defined as the ways of thinking and acting, along with the material objects that make up a people’s way of life (Macionis, page 54). I need to understand that people I meet may have grown up in different cultures and have different beliefs or values. If I take a global perspective, I will be able to better respect and value the cultures of the people I come into contact with. Learning about different cultures is one way to learn about people’s history. Everyone’s pasts and futures are linked by their culture (Macionis, page 54). As I prepare to go to college in the fall, I think about all the new people I will have the opportunity to meet. I will have the chance to interact with people from other countries. I will have the chance to not just learn more about them as...
As I waited for the 6 train, I walked to the spot to get on, calculated purposefully to the exit of my final destination stop. To ignore the homeless people in the way of where I am going, I turn my music louder, look down, and walk faster. Once I arrived at the stop, I grounded my feet at where I presumed the train doors would open so I will be the first to get on. As usual, I was the first to step onto the train. I went in slowly, snooping for a seat. As I looked down the row of people, like stalks of corn, I was pushed. Shoved into the train by hands clinging onto my shirt, I looked back in disgust. An old lady, arms still stretched from pushing me, looked back and mouthed, “Thank you.” Furious, I thought, did she really just thank me
...elopment of diverse understanding through my life. I found that The further you explore and understand your own culture, you will be better prepared to face counseling issues in other cultures while avoiding possible pitfalls like bias.
Reflection can been described as a process of turning experience into learning, that is, it is a way of exploring experience in order to learn new things from it. According to Boud, eogh, and Walker (1985:19) they define reflection as “those intellectual and affective activities which are engaged in by individuals to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations”. Reflection often involves taking the unprocessed, raw material of one’s experience and engaging with it Inorder to derive sense from what has occurred. It often involves exploring messy and confused events and focusing on the thoughts and emotions that accompany them. Reflection can be undertaken as an informal personal activity either for its own sake or as a part of a structured course. Reflection may focus on special activities taking for instance workshop activities, events of the past experience for example, what learners easily recall from prior experience, or concurrent activities in the learners’ workplace and community that can act as a stimulus for learning. In this context, the word event is used to refer to any activity from which learning may result, whether it happens regardless of its location that is whether in a classroom, a workshop, a formally scheduled placement, or in everyday
The ability to reflect critically on one’s experience, integrate knowledge gained from experience with knowledge possessed, and take action on insights is considered by some adult educators to be a distinguishing feature of the adult learner (Brookfield 1998; Ecclestone 1996; Mezirow 1991). Critical reflection is the process by which adults identify the assumptions governing their actions, locate the historical and cultural origins of the assumptions, question the meaning of the assumptions, and develop alternative ways of acting (Cranton 1996). Brookfield (1995) adds that part of the critical reflective process is to challenge the prevailing social, political, cultural, or professional ways of acting. Through the process of critical reflection, adults come to interpret and create new knowledge and actions from their ordinary and sometimes extraordinary experiences. Critical reflection blends learning through experience with theoretical and technical learning to form new knowledge constructions and new behaviors or insights.
I built upon my cross-cultural experiences as I befriended exchange students from Belgium, Japan, and Korea. Each time, the friendships enriched my appreciation and understanding of not only my own culture, but the very concept of culture. What falls under the cultural blanket can vary from person to person, and I found it to be very interesting that while one person could claim lan...
What do we have to learn through the study of different cultures? I was hoping for some wonderful revelation in the collection of writings. I may have found one. This book was a difficult read for me. I am not sure whether it’s my age or my inexperience with classical readings. I also found it difficult to formulate a report on a collection of readings, the last report I did was on Laura Ingall’s Little House on the Prairie. This reading was a little more challenging. The main point that seemed to jump out at me is that perceptions change, our theory of reality changes with every viewpoint. Every culture can seem primitive, self destructive, nonsensical, immoral or just wrong, depending on who is doing the observation and what perspective they are observing from.
After I got my diploma I tried to create a perfect plan for my future. In order to achieve my personal goals I concentrated on two main things: improving my education and getting a job. I decided to continue my education and obtain a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering which I registered in Technical College at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When I received the admission letter from that college I prepared my bags and left my parents' house to go to Riyadh to pursue my goal. This was the first time being away from them. I studied hard in order to earn that certificate I felt that the time was running too slow while I was there. While studying at that college, I found out about a program of scholarships. This program had many conditions and a long process for the application. I didn’t hesitate to enroll in that program. It was an excellent opportunity to get a better education and was offer in one of the most sophisticated countries around the world. Therefore, I made a decision to take advantage of this opportunity, because opportunities like this only come once in our lifetime. I didn’t know they will accept me in the program to study in the U.S. and after two weeks I got good news from them. I struggled between leaving my career unfinished at that college and completing this in the U.S.
Different cultures, or environments make up how people live their lives and how they may act on a daily basis. These cultures are common all throughout the world, even throughout the different places within the United States. Going on my school trip to New York City made me aware of these cultures changes and when are plane landed back in Minnesota I was so thankful to be back to the places and faces I had always been used to.
After our plane landed, we had to take a train to Venice. The reality of being in a different country didn’t hit me until we exited the station. Abby and I were both awe struck and all we could say to each other was, “Dude, we are in Italy.” When we were through with our out-of-body experience we began our search for our hotel. We couldn’t find it so we asked for help. Then, because we asked the same guy four times, he walked us to our hotel. It was through several tiny alleyways. If I was in America, I would’ve been sure that the man was leading us to our killers, but I was still in awe of Italy. The alleyways were sometimes so small that you would have to walk single file and sometimes let others go before you entered. Other alleyways would
Studying abroad can be one of the most rewarding experiences in a college’s students career. For many colleges, having their students can mean an increase in tuition, higher application rates, and overall better reviews by their students. According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, by Scott Olsen, “The Wall Street Journal reported last month that several small colleges are requiring students to pay full tuition even if the programs cost less, setting caps on the amount of financial aid sent abroad, and limiting how many students can participate”(5). Also, Olsen tells us “In the 2003-2004 school year, 7,208 students from Indiana universities went on study-abroad programs, according to the most recent statistics available from the Institute
In recent years, a growing number of parents may send their children to study abroad. The university of Cambridge had nearly 1,000 Chinese students, who study in undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in engineering, sciences, mathematics, international relations, economics and finance, and administration (BBC news, 2011). These parents believe that their children may become more autonomous, because their children have to look after themselves and manage their finance (Topuniversities, 2014). However, there are some difficulties, such as foreign language problems, teaching methodologies, exam and social network need to be faced, when they study abroad for the first time. This essay will discuss these challenges and then give suggestions for
A silver train slows as it enters the Berlin Central Station, a near match to the color of the overcast sky. The drone of the train wheels is the perfect pitch to rattle your inner ear. The only relief is the change in frequency when the air angrily hisses from the brake system. Bernd Brandes waits on the boarding platform, he knows it must 8:30. That is his train arriving, due to leave in 15 minutes. He isn’t startled by the air-brakes sudden release of pressure. He is focused on something else. He boards the train. He has plenty of time to contemplate on the two and half hour train ride to Kassel. He is on his way to meet Armin Meiwes, a man he met online. A man, he hopes, can give him what he wants.
The word 'culture' is often described in terms of concrete ideas or social artifacts. Gary R. Weaver describes some common conceptions such as "good taste," "art or music," or "something that people in exotic foreign lands had."1 However, culture in the context of international assignments relates to how people perceive the world and the influence this perception has on their actions. It is culture on the interpersonal level. Different cultures can perceive the same thing differently, which leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding when one crosses into another culture not their own.