Proud To Be International

After getting about 100 hours of sleep and finally overcoming my jet lag, I started to collect my thoughts about our trip overseas. This is a little overwhelming as words cannot accurately describe all of the feelings and emotions that have built up in my head over this past two weeks.

One prominent feeling that I will definitely be caring around is how lucky I am to have experienced different cultures during this unforgettable journey. Moving to the US from Russia, I have always considered myself culturally diverse. However, this trip significantly broadened my horizons and made me realize how much I still have to learn. While communicating with my fellow-students from INEMA program, I was astonished by their worldliness and a well-rounded perspective on many current events happening in the global arena. They were open-minded and curious, they wanted to learn, and they had a strong point of view. Sometimes that point of view differed significantly from my own but it challenged me to think and to have a healthy argument with my counterparts.

Sometimes I think that as Americans we are a little self-centered. Our economy is well-developed, our progress is significant, and our sense of self is strong. We know who we are and what we want and we often don’t bother to look around to see what is going on in other corners of the world. I was almost embarrassed to learn how much students from other countries know about America yet we know so little about them.

Some of my group-mates later admitted that they regretted to only know one language. Others were amazed at the German education and healthcare systems and they had a lot of ideas on how to apply some of these components to US environment.

As our journey was coming to an end, I realized the sheer importance of this program. I truly believe that study abroad programs and international internships should be implemented countrywide, maybe even made mandatory. Our kids (and adults) need to know more about other cultures in order to be more receptive and culturally sensitive. After all, our world is getting smaller and we should all be proud to be international!