Member-only story
The Importance Of Travelling Abroad When You Are Young
It doesn’t matter where you go, just as long as you take an opportunity to do it.
After my Freshman year in college, I flew to Japan by myself to visit a boyfriend who was stationed in Yokohama at the USAF base there. While our relationship did not last past that trip, I enjoyed seeing another culture. I experienced a bullet train, Buddhist shrines, and temples, a bustling Shinjuku Station, and traveling to Mt. Fuji, my first experience in an alpine environment above a tree line. I felt that going there added to my view of the world and of the importance of a global society. That was in 1982.
Since then, with the advent of the internet, ready access to information, and a cultural shift of people holding more than one job over their lifetime, it’s become imperative that our people experience international travel at a young age.
Studying abroad affords many opportunities to experience another culture in a distant part of the world. Immersion in a language other than your own, different forms of transportation, and different foods are all part of the learning experience.
