A friend once told me I should write a journal. I should write in it and say what I did, I should write in it and say where I traveled. He said, it’ll be good to look back on, it’ll be good for your kids if you should have them. I took his advice.
I have written in my journal and looked back on my memories. I have filled the book, with small mementos and silly jokes. I have filled it with my passion and with my love. I have added to it on trips and treks, on good days and bad. I have added to it day by day. Most recently I have written a page, one with a certain finality to it. However, I hope that it continues.
“For anyone reading this in the future. Let me say something. You don’t always choose your companions, your destination, how much you’ll spend or even the way you get somewhere. You can drive and fly all day and all night. Sleep train stations, in cars, and airports and all manner of places far from the comfort of your bed. I pray you get the chance, I pray you spend a bit too much and be a bit uncomfortable. We enjoy the good moments, but the silly and the strange this is the flavor of adventure. When you get uncomfortable, when you go with people you don’t fully know. This is the stuff of true friendships and true memories. So if your reading this and I’m dead and gone, if your reading this and this is your memory of me. I hope it made you smile. I hope I add more to it, but I want to make sure someone gets a little advice out of this just in case it gets buried and I forget. I’m writing this right now enjoying wine, in a rented house in New Zealand. I’m surrounded by foreigners (German, Danish and Norwegian). I’m back at my temporary home. I love it, as uncomfortable as it is on occasion, every minute is worth it. Get uncomfortable, spend too much time, make memories and always think when I leave a place or wright something will someone think fondly of me for it.”
I wrote this in the hopes that one day someone would read it. Someone would laugh at my mistakes and see the places I’ve been. Marvel at my adventures, and think I can do better, go farther, and do more. I hope they see my book and think of writing in their own. I hope that I have they have seen some part of this post and tell me one day that I was influential, that I had a lollipop moment.
Why do we study, intern and learn about places far away from us? Why does FIU promote “Worlds ahead” thinking? We do this because our education can no longer be local, can no longer exist on a small scale, and can no longer consider its way of educating singular. In order for a University, and more specifically an individual student to grow, we must learn to take a larger view, a more global view. In so doing we gain perspective, awareness, and learn to engage in things we normally wouldn’t do.
If you make a decision, who does it effect? Where did the information you got to make the decision come from? Was it accurate, was it biased, was it based on American thinking? Look to the examples of businesses who failed to make the proper decisions in their marketing campaigns. For example, the Ford Nova, a hit in America, and a failure in Mexico. Why? Because the business failed to take into account the word choice, Nova in Spanish means “No go,” and who wants a car that doesn’t go. When we make a decision it is not only important to take into account a larger perspective, but could make or break a business. A global perspective gives a global view, one in which we consider the impact of our choices and our decisions and their affects. During my study abroad I was lucky enough to get to know my roommates and the cultures that they came free. I was able to learn from them, learn from their culture and their personalities. I learned to take their decisions and compare them against my own. For example, before leaving the States I herd of the plight of Germany and the massive refugee crisis they were dealing with. I learned to understand the specifics of this crisis from those who experienced firsthand. With the additional benefit of learning from a German, whose asylum claims are accepted on the largest scale, and a person from Denmark, whose asylum claims court are notoriously difficult. It is through these exchanges you learn global perspective and why we travel and learn abroad.
Learning can no longer only come only from books, and text. Learning has to come from a global perspective. Investors, businesses students, universities all must consider the effects of the world around them They must be aware, they must be globally aware. Their actions and the actions of their peers, neighbors and people on the other side of the world have effects that reverberate across the globe. For example, the global housing collapse in 2008, its effects spiraled not just in the States but caused a global recession. One in which banks lost billions in dollars, euros, rupee and yen. The world is interconnected to a degree of never before. Learning abroad, discussing the effects of these trends and getting an insight into a world that isn’t your own allows you to see into the reverberations of the actions taken by governments and businesses.
I have learned so much, and hope to learn so much more. My time studying abroad has allowed me to experience many new things, see new places, and learn a completely different way of doing things. My classes and environment have encouraged me to engage in not just simple activities but go beyond that. I am learning now what it is to be a global citizen. In so doing I have accepted a position with the department of State a position which allows me to learn components of multilateral diplomacy. Learn what is to engage in global politics and discuss universal concerns.
I have written in my journal and looked back on my memories. I have filled the book, with small mementos and silly jokes. I have filled it with my passion and with my love. I have added to it on trips and treks, on good days and bad. I have added to it day by day. Most recently I have written a page, one with a certain finality to it. However, I hope that it continues.
“For anyone reading this in the future. Let me say something. You don’t always choose your companions, your destination, how much you’ll spend or even the way you get somewhere. You can drive and fly all day and all night. Sleep train stations, in cars, and airports and all manner of places far from the comfort of your bed. I pray you get the chance, I pray you spend a bit too much and be a bit uncomfortable. We enjoy the good moments, but the silly and the strange this is the flavor of adventure. When you get uncomfortable, when you go with people you don’t fully know. This is the stuff of true friendships and true memories. So if your reading this and I’m dead and gone, if your reading this and this is your memory of me. I hope it made you smile. I hope I add more to it, but I want to make sure someone gets a little advice out of this just in case it gets buried and I forget. I’m writing this right now enjoying wine, in a rented house in New Zealand. I’m surrounded by foreigners (German, Danish and Norwegian). I’m back at my temporary home. I love it, as uncomfortable as it is on occasion, every minute is worth it. Get uncomfortable, spend too much time, make memories and always think when I leave a place or wright something will someone think fondly of me for it.”
I wrote this in the hopes that one day someone would read it. Someone would laugh at my mistakes and see the places I’ve been. Marvel at my adventures, and think I can do better, go farther, and do more. I hope they see my book and think of writing in their own. I hope that I have they have seen some part of this post and tell me one day that I was influential, that I had a lollipop moment.
Why do we study, intern and learn about places far away from us? Why does FIU promote “Worlds ahead” thinking? We do this because our education can no longer be local, can no longer exist on a small scale, and can no longer consider its way of educating singular. In order for a University, and more specifically an individual student to grow, we must learn to take a larger view, a more global view. In so doing we gain perspective, awareness, and learn to engage in things we normally wouldn’t do.
If you make a decision, who does it effect? Where did the information you got to make the decision come from? Was it accurate, was it biased, was it based on American thinking? Look to the examples of businesses who failed to make the proper decisions in their marketing campaigns. For example, the Ford Nova, a hit in America, and a failure in Mexico. Why? Because the business failed to take into account the word choice, Nova in Spanish means “No go,” and who wants a car that doesn’t go. When we make a decision it is not only important to take into account a larger perspective, but could make or break a business. A global perspective gives a global view, one in which we consider the impact of our choices and our decisions and their affects. During my study abroad I was lucky enough to get to know my roommates and the cultures that they came free. I was able to learn from them, learn from their culture and their personalities. I learned to take their decisions and compare them against my own. For example, before leaving the States I herd of the plight of Germany and the massive refugee crisis they were dealing with. I learned to understand the specifics of this crisis from those who experienced firsthand. With the additional benefit of learning from a German, whose asylum claims are accepted on the largest scale, and a person from Denmark, whose asylum claims court are notoriously difficult. It is through these exchanges you learn global perspective and why we travel and learn abroad.
Learning can no longer only come only from books, and text. Learning has to come from a global perspective. Investors, businesses students, universities all must consider the effects of the world around them They must be aware, they must be globally aware. Their actions and the actions of their peers, neighbors and people on the other side of the world have effects that reverberate across the globe. For example, the global housing collapse in 2008, its effects spiraled not just in the States but caused a global recession. One in which banks lost billions in dollars, euros, rupee and yen. The world is interconnected to a degree of never before. Learning abroad, discussing the effects of these trends and getting an insight into a world that isn’t your own allows you to see into the reverberations of the actions taken by governments and businesses.
I have learned so much, and hope to learn so much more. My time studying abroad has allowed me to experience many new things, see new places, and learn a completely different way of doing things. My classes and environment have encouraged me to engage in not just simple activities but go beyond that. I am learning now what it is to be a global citizen. In so doing I have accepted a position with the department of State a position which allows me to learn components of multilateral diplomacy. Learn what is to engage in global politics and discuss universal concerns.