...am asked the question of where I come from, I have trouble defining my country and explaining who I am. I feel like I am stuck between two countries across the globe, and two different cultures because I was raised outside of my birthplace. Therefore I seem to have trouble determining what is my true home. Yet the country that I was raised in cannot be my true home either because there I am considered an expatriate. So, am I supposed to be Indian American? But aren’t they the Native Americans? This is why I have learned to simply answer this question with “Dual Nationality.” Experiences are events that in my opinion are what shapes a person and make the person that one is. I am a compilation of my experiences and with each new experience that I have gained; I became a different and a new mature person at every stage. The experiences that I have gone through are like the stairs of my life. The end of the stairs is when I will be successful with my goals and ambitions. All of the places that I have been to and all of the places that I have lived in are a part of my life, a memory that helps me to become who I am today. Born in India, I came to the United States of America at the young age of two. The only English word that I knew was “chocolate.” Even though my parents were well educated but they never though of talking to me in English because they wanted to preserve my first language of Punjabi. My experiences started at the age of 4 when I had to learn two languages. At the...
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...the globalization phenomena more present than ever in our societies, teachers and students have the chance to learn and experience different practices in education. It is easier nowadays to find students, and teachers too, from different parts of the world in a classroom. However, even with this more frequent contact, there are some important distinctions on the learning process and teaching styles between individuals from different cultures that would explain how these people act and interact with each other on the educational environment. The behavior of an individual, student or teacher, in a classroom may have much to do with the cultural background that this particular person comes from. Each society will think about education considering their own needs, and in this way their adopted systems and methods to train their students might differ from each other (Barmeyer, 2004). On this mindset, the present study will be conducted in comparative terms between a German student, who was interviewed by me, a Brazilian student, highlighting the differences and possible similarities in educational experiences in our home countries. In order to conduct these comparisons, I will use Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of Power Distance – referring to the power distribution in our societies - and Individualism vs. Collectivism – the degree of integration of each country into groups - to explain our behavior patterns and opinions in each subject. In order to do that I divided this work...
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...life to have new experiences and learn more than academics. I feel that it is a time for one to really learn about their true self. Since growing and developing are major components of the college years, I am confident that studying abroad would offer infinite possibilities toward fulfilling those ends. Ever since I can remember, I have always had a passion for traveling. I was born in Florida and moved to Wisconsin when I was seven years old. My family then moved to the small town of Luxemburg. I believe that the ideas and traditions present in a small town are all very similar which shelters individuals from diversity. After high school, I moved away from Luxemburg to attend Edgewood College in Madison. Students who live in Madison are fortunate to be around several ethnicities and cultures; however, I feel that one must travel to a foreign country to get the true experience of a culture. My passion for studying abroad stems from my past experiences of traveling to foreign countries. The summer of my sophomore year in high school, I was granted the opportunity to travel to Europe. My international experience consisted of traveling to France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy in 21 days. Furthermore, I went on vacation to Cancun in Mexico my senior year in high school and I have also been to Canada a handful of times. I believe that each of these adventures has helped shape my perspectives of life; however, I feel that a longer experience in a different...
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...article which is “My Life-Change Experience,” tells us that she had a lot of hard time when she just moved from her home country to another country. According to the author, she said that moving from one country to another was a life-change experience. When she got off the airplane, there were so many things that were not matched with her imagination from her childhood. The weather was not sunny as her expectation, but the air was quite good at that city. Besides this, because of language problem, she had a really hard time since she didn’t know English quite well. However, everything was getting better when she got used to the new city and met many nice friends. After reading this article, it reminded me that my transformative moment in the last year which was moving to another country as well. I was a high school student in my country which is China, but things were changed since my parents decided to let me study abroad by myself. Right after my ninth grade in my country, I quit my high school and prepared to study in the USA. When I got off the airplane, I felt everything was fresh to me and also it was my first time to go to another country. After a while living in the USA, all my freshness feeling has gone, and I started missing home, my parents, and my friends. At that time, I didn’t have any friends in the USA at all and felt so lonely and helpless when I couldn’t understand what people were saying. In this case, I felt so homesick and I always talked to my friends that...
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...immigrant as a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence. Being an immigrant myself, it means more to me than that. It means the experience me and my parents had through the process and how it affected me. It means my parents leaving everything behind in their beloved homeland to seek a better future for their children, more than halfway through their life. For me personally, it meant having to leave my friends, my school, the community I was a part of, and moving to a new place that was very different in every aspect of life. But being an immigrant means more to me than just the hardship of adjusting to a new country, it has taught me lessons in life that will stick with me for the entirety of...
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...Inside the classroom we can listen, read, write and talk about different countries, their culture and their laws by using our imagination. Here our imagination only sets the limit. But the tour that our law department is organising with the help of DAAD will offer us to see the outer world with our open eyes. This type of tour will provide me an opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about Germany. This will offer me an opportunity to go beyond the class room to experience new culture. This will be a very short spanned tour, different from ordinary study tours, different because within 14 days not only we will be given lectures but will also have the time to tour Germany and time to explore its culture. During this time we will be given lectures on various topics like constitutional law, legislation, international law, European Union law, world trade law and investment law. Topics like trade law and investment law are very much related to our ongoing LLM programme; we will not only have a deeper look over these subjects but will also be able to gain a foreign perspective over these subjects directly. Subjects like constitutional law and legislation will help me in my future if I ever go to politics and will also help me as a lawyer. There are bundle of benefits attached with this type of study tour. The very first benefit that will accrue from this tour is learning. As the very famous quote goes, “there is no education quite like the lessons of travel.” It is an effective way...
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...College is a place where one can have new and exciting experiences. It is a place for exploring diverse and modern ideas. What better way to grow in these experiences than to travel to a foreign country to learn about their perspectives, ideas, history, and culture? I believe that by studying the differences between the British physical therapy program and that of the United States would benefit me a great deal in broadening my knowledge base to encompass that of a completely different continent. Also it would allow me the opportunity to learn by shadowing a British physical therapist, and compare that experience to the clinical exposure I expect to have in the United States. By participating in this program I hope to combine my experiences of the best of both worlds into my graduate studies and eventually in my PT practice. I plan to learn and develop valuable skills that will one day make me a better physical therapist. This is why I chose the University of Essex, in England due to the fact it offers a wide range of academically challenging classes related to my field of study. It’s a fairly new program receiving a lot of attention. This peeked my interest and guided my decision to chose Essex. Academics have always been extremely important to me and my family. Both my parents have always encouraged me and my sister to pursue a higher education. A college education is essentially the key to success in the future. It opens many doors of opportunity and will allow me to explore...
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...2015 How International Students Deal with Culture Shock The population of international students in foreign countries continues to surge in recent years with students coming from a range of nationalities. For instance, according to the Institute of International Education, “Over 723,270 international students intended [sic] U.S. Colleges, universities and institutes in the 2010 – 2011 school year” (Foreign Students). The number of foreign students in the United States has been increasing gradually over the past few years. “Numerous universities specifically take measures to attract international students for financial reasons as well as a measure to enrich the college environment and add diversity to the students’ population” (Hser 37). However, many international students have been facing many challenges and problems to adapt themselves to the new foods, activities, cultures, customs and languages in the foreign country. The process of adapting, understanding and recognizing these changes is called culture shock. The deep understanding of the meaning of culture shock, the stages of culture shock and the solutions to overcome culture shock can reduce the rate of culture shock problems. The phrase “culture shock” denotes the anxiety that can be experienced when people move from a familiar culture to a different culture. It can affect anyone who travels to a foreign country at any time, perhaps especially international students. According to Oberg, “Culture shock may be defined as...
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...interesting cultures. As I have grown older and become a more educated, cultured individual, I long to travel the world, to see these astounding things, and to learn everything I can from my experiences. Over the past few years, I have tried to become as knowledgeable in other countries and cultures as I could. I have been taking French Language and Culture since my eighth grade year of school. I have had a previous pen pal in Spain. My church youth group and I participated in a PRISM (Pittsburgh Regional International Student Ministries) dinner, where we served dinner to the students participating in this program. Through this night, I met many individuals of many cultures, and became...
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...venturing on new career paths. I will review in comparison and contrast the reasons for staying in the logistical field opposed to leaving this career. I like working in the logistical field because the economy needs logistics. The employment opportunities in the logistic field are widespread throughout the country and world. I have eleven years of experience in logistics; so I have knowledge advantage. When I earn my Bachelors degree, it will support and strengthen my logistical experience. For logistics I should continue to pursue a logistic career because the economy relies on logistics. The economy functions on supply and demand. Companies distribute and receive supplies to supply the economy of what it demands. It does not matter what type of business it is: military, agriculture, industrial, manufacturing, human resources, or financial. The logistical behavior never changes. Every supply and demand business model is requisite of logistics. Logistics is the reason for economic growth and technological advances. If it weren’t for the increasing demand for logistics to supply the economy quickly, then it wouldn’t have stimulated the advancement of technology to do so. Michael Porter, a business strategist, inferred that the increased logistical demand made business subsequently competitive. The competition through logistics sparked the technological industry into innovative equipment. In turn, this stimulates new businesses to grow and provide new employment for...
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...also has always been my dream as a young, get an exchange and acquire experience of living abroad and of course make my resume more valued. The situation of a temporary exchange brings a wide range of information and knowledge to anyone's life, especially in the life of a young person. As any new situation in life, an exchange also has changes that may be crucial for somebody’s life. Among these changes five are fundamental in my opinion. An exchange program to study and specialize using a language of a foreign country has the opportunity to be a great investment not only to mature in life and can also be a great career move, either for teenagers or young people who attend a university in their own country. Even if the period is one year or even six months, this feature brings aggrandizing your resume with a rich cultural background, and improvement in language skills. On the other hand a person who did not live this experience as much as he wants to do different courses, or even learn new language within their own country, still carries with him that the person never experienced life outside. This adventure also brings opportunity to grow not only professionally, but as a person matures. This new situation face the student alone and outside the country of origin. My older sister for example, had the opportunity to study in Argentina for six months, I remember that during this period she would call home asking my father, if he could require...
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...that all four countries are looking to have filled by different companies. Here are the links to each posting that I located: China: http://www.learn4good.com/jobs/customer_service/e/189572/search/beijing/ Mexico: http://www.learn4good.com/jobs/customer_service/e/192731/search/guadalajara/ Israel: http://www.learn4good.com/jobs/customer_service/e/181381/search/tel-aviv/ UAE: http://www.learn4good.com/jobs/customer_service/e/157668/search/ras-al-khaimah/ Differences in resume, cover letter and email formalities internationally: For starters the term resume can also be referred to as a “CV” or curriculum vitae, which is typically the same thing as a resume except CV’s are normally two pages long and with multiple attachments. Cover letters as referred to in the U.S have multiple names internationally like letters of interest and motivation letters. Regardless of the name the process is still the same however typically self-photos of the applying individual are attached to a cover letter, resume or both whereas in the U.S, photos are not appropriate attachments when looking for employment. It is also important to remember that paper sizes differ in other countries so altering your document size will be necessary if you want all your information to come through, otherwise your resume, fax, email etc. may have some missing information when viewed or printed out. It is ideal to send both a resume in English and the language of the country in which you are...
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...and Barcelona the summer before my freshman year at the UW, I realized that living abroad and embracing another culture and system of values offered an insightful perspective about my own country. This newfound interest pushed me to learn more about the study abroad programs offered by the UW and take GEN ST 197 taught by Shannon Koller my freshman year. This class educated me on not only what the UW offers for study abroad programs, but also what I must do in order to have a successful and safe experience. I became interested in the UW’s exploration seminars and decided to participate in the Art London Exploration Seminar this past summer. London is a multi-cultural capital and an ideal place to experience other ways of life, giving me an open mind and respect for different cultures. I was able to overcome the challenges of living in a foreign country and mature into an independent, flexible, and adaptable person. Studying in Prague will allow me to mature and experience personal growth by being immersed in a new culture and independently taking on the challenges of living in a foreign country. My personal growth will be channeled through the variety of CHID and PolSci courses the program offers and also engage in intellectually stimulating international field trips. Although I will not be dealing with a language barrier in my classes, I will come across people of many ethnicities and customs throughout Prague and Central Europe. From now until my departure, I plan to research...
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...Roadtrip Introduction Travelling experience Body Ecuador around the world The “Ruta del Spondylus” Food, adventure, night life Conclusion Learning about my culture Personal experience. For many people the word “travelling” can have many meanings. Some people would consider that If you don’t get in a plane then you’re not really travelling, or that if you don’t go shopping in the place you are visiting then you’re not really travelling either. However, for many people, especially foreigners, travelling is more of a learning experience. You can get to know different cultures, people, customs, food, infrastructure, history, music, languages, dialects and so on. There is a specific kind of trip called “roadtrip”. Roadtripping started as a hippie thing, it’s basically about driving around to different cities, towns, countries without a plan. You can either end up in a nice hotel or at a road motel and both will make you feel or give you the same comfort; even there will be times when you will have to sleep in your own car. Ecuador is most known around the world as a touristic place; actually, most known by foreigners than by their own people (Ecuadorians). I’ve met a lot of foreigners, from different countries, from the US, Europe, Middle East, Latin Americans and so on, and most of them know Ecuador for their beaches and especially for Galapagos Island. We are supposed to teach other people about our country; unfortunately, it turns out that foreigners...
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...the memorable moments from my life in Saudi Arabia and wondered about the kind of experiences I would embark on when I arrived in Canada. These were only some of the thoughts racing through my mind when my family and I emigrated from Saudi Arabia to Canada two and a half years ago which resulted in some major upheavals in my life. These challenges were further compounded by the suddenness of the move, and having to immediately adjust to a new city. Having lived in two continents (North America and Asia) and four countries (U.A.E, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Canada) has given me a very unique perspective on the world. Upon arriving in Canada, it felt like I had arrived...
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