The Joys of Going International

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” — Henry Miller

Interning or studying abroad presents a variety of different benefits for a person and has the power to be a life changing experience. When you travel outside of your home country you are able to see the world through a different lens. One gets to experience not only a different way of life but also a different culture that you may have heard about or seen glimpses of, but now you get to encounter it in its purest form. Which can act as a breathe of fresh air in a way. This also grants you the opportunity to become more culturally aware and understanding of various ways of life. While abroad you try foods that you have heard about but never tried and others you may have never known they existed let alone being able to try them first hand. Before coming to Taiwan I had never heard of a Spring Onion Pancake but it is really good, nor had I heard of Stinky Tofu which was interesting. You will hear food combinations that may sound really strange to you but sounds perfectly normal in that country. My personal experience with this was when I tried egg tart, normally when I here tart I think of a desert of some kind and I definitely wouldn’t expect egg to be in it. The egg tart was sweet of course the inside was like an egg custard, but it was served as a breakfast dish. It was good actually the egg being sweet took some getting used to though.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” — Nelson Mandela

Language can reveal and show a person a lot about the culture and heart of a country. The language spoken in a country holds a lot of meaning to them not just because it is their main way of communication but it is also apart their history and culture as a people and country. In Taiwan the main language spoken is Mandarin, which I have learned turns out to be a challenging language to learn to speak and read. Mandarin also happens to be the most spoken language in the world encompassing 1.2 billion native speakers. Not to mention that learning and becoming fluent in another language looks good when you are applying for a job. With every new adventure you take you are bound to make some new friends along the way. When interning or studying abroad these friends you make become like a another family in sense. More than likely you will make a friend that is from the country you are in or they have just been there for a long time so they know their way around. They know all the cool places to go see and visit that will make you experience even better. With building these friendship you realize the similarities and differences of growing up and living in the different countries. After traveling abroad you are left with so many memories and stories that will last forever.

“Traveling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” — Ibn Battuta