The EdOdyssey Educator: May 2021 Newsletter

Teacher Appreciation Week

Sharing our love for teachers with our community.

Earlier this month, we expressed our gratitude for educators. They’ve gone around the world with us, and their work in and out of the classroom inspires their students to take on challenges while abroad.

To our faculty chaperones and to all teachers, we continue to give thanks for the pivotal role that you’ve played in our lives. Best of luck as you finish up the school year!

See how we started Teacher Appreciation Week on Instagram.

Participation in Global Panel Discussion

Sharing an international perspective to Boston community & beyond.

The Boston Area Study Abroad Association (BASAA) invited our own Luis Garcia to provide his Peruvian perspective in their worldwide virtual panel discussion on “Navigating Study Abroad in a COVID-19 World”. Over 100 attendees from around the globe gained unique insights into some of Peru’s public policy and the communication between medical providers and the local community in Lima.

This week, Luis started sharing his knowledge and passion for culture with our Latinx Patient summer cohort of aspiring and current healthcare workers.

Learn more about why cultural competencies matter in our Latinx Patient program.

Program Highlight: Florence Semester Abroad

Highlighting what makes the home of the Renaissance a special place.

World renown art, famous sculptures, and ancient streets have inspired generations of locals and global citizens. Around this time of year, the end of the spring season fills the region of Tuscany with warm weather and breathes even more life into the city.

We’re excited to share the beauty and history of this world famous city with students during our semester program this upcoming school year.

This Month’s Program Reminders & Deadlines:

• Latinx Patient Program Application: Fall Registration - Enrolling

• Florence Study Abroad Application: Fall Deadline - May 30, 2021

• EdOdyssey Semester Airfare Promo: Fall ‘21 & Spring ‘22 - Available

Featured Blog of the Month:

“Why Your International Friendships Will Last A Lifetime”

This month, we reflect on what makes study abroad connections so special. If you’ve studied abroad, or you’re thinking about it, you’ll gain insights into the timeless value of interpersonal connections that come from an experience abroad.

Read the full blog

Monthly Feature: Matt W.'s Study Abroad Experiences and How Travel Influences Your Career

INTRODUCING MONTHLY FEATURE

Each month we will feature an EdOdyssey alum or a passionate traveler who embodies our values and connects their study abroad to themselves.

Today, we introduce Matt W., a native of Franklin, Massachusetts, shares his personal growth throughout his study abroad experiences and how it’s provided him guidance toward his career in law.

Our hope, as educators, is to share how growth through travel is a process. 

HIGH SCHOOL: BUILDING INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

In high school, he always moved abroad and he hadn't gone abroad so he took advantage of as many programs as possible. He did a mission trip to El Salvador his freshman year and later participated in an exchange program in Spain as well as a short term visit to China. 

From all these study abroad trips, he realized that he wanted to be exposed to even more diversity and an even different way of life for a longer period of time. These collective experiences inspired him to study abroad for a semester so he could enjoy more of an immersive experience.

COLLEGE ABROAD: GAINING PERSPECTIVE

Matt knew that he wanted even more of that local feel that he had from his exchange in Spain, so he decided to study abroad in South America and he mentioned that he wanted to do a homestay. 

Even with years of Spanish under his belt, he still felt like he was building out from his beginner Spanish, but he said that his homestay experience helped him and helped him with his conversational Spanish. 

In the classroom, his classes largely focused on his international studies major that included a notable law class that he’ll never forget. Andrea Colgada, one of his professors in Buenos Aires, led an international law course in Spanish that made him see law from another perspective.

Outside of her role as professor, Matt mentioned that he loved how she had so many her experiences outside of the classroom.

She practiced law in the local courts, was a policy adviser, and understood the depth of complex international treaties. Her wide knowledge base in so many areas, and her involvement in different aspects of law, gave him a greater appreciation and perspective on the different ways that he pursue a career as a lawyer. 

LESSONS LEARNED FROM STUDY ABROAD

If you get food on your plate, Matt would encourage you to do your best to eat it because leaving food on your plate in many cultures can send the wrong message. 

“You respect people through their food.”

In China, there was initial fright because of the amount of cameras. In El Salvador, there is barbed wire around the building. In Argentina, the power sometimes cut out. 

Matt shared that life can feel different when you're in a different location and realizing where you are in the world, and makes you even more conscious and aware of your surroundings. Throughout all these experiences, he realized that breaking out of his bubble from a place of personal growth. 

To this day, Matt stays connected with his homestay mother in Argentina. When the social media memories come up on his platforms, he always stops to reflect on what he’s learned and what he’s done to grow from experiences.

LIFE AFTER GRADUATION

Matt wants to continue seeking his passions. He doesn't have a concrete, set-in-stone path in front of him, but he knows that he wants to find what he loves. He aspires to integrate his past experiences into his passions, and ultimately he wants to keep working to find his exact purpose in life. He wants to find what he loves. 

Our team thanks Matt for sharing his experiences with us! If you too would like to share your story, please fill out our EdOdyssey’s Monthly Feature for a chance to featured and we’ll be in touch if you’re selected!

Black History Month: The Importance of American Black Leadership in the World

February is Black History Month, and to celebrate it, you’ll learn about how travel experiences abroad have influenced and made an impact on the lives of American black leaders. 

These leaders provide us with meaningful quotes that give us as readers insights from interviews, speeches and written memoirs. Their experiences come from short term travel and relocating to a new country. 

They’ve happened at different times and in countries all around the world. 

Obama to Spain 

After Obama graduated college, he went to Europe before visiting his father’s homeland of Kenya. Obama recounted his stop in Spain to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC):

“...we arrived in Barcelona and it was just daybreak, and I remember walking towards the Ramblas, towards town, and the sun was coming up. And so, those kinds of trips are memorable because they’re part of you as a young person trying to discover what your place in the world is.”

At the end of the president’s 2nd term in July 2016, Obama returned to Spain for a visit and met with the king. 

“Travel also reminds us of what we share and what we have become – the ability for us to recognise ourselves in each other”

For some leaders, these experiences have been shorter immersion experiences, but for others, it has been much more of a longer term immersion experience. 

Kamala Harris in Montreal

Original photos courtesy of @kamalaharris instagram (left) and English Montreal School Board Facebook (right)

When Vice President Kamala Harris was growing up, her mother worked at a local university in Montreal and Vice President Harris spent a good portion of her childhood in Montreal. 

According to the L.A Times, Harris attended most of secondary school (7th grade - senior year of high school) in Montreal and its Westmount neighborhood. Harris graduated from Westmount High School in 1981.

“I used to joke that I felt like a duck because all day long at our new school I'd be saying 'Quoi? Quoi? Quoi?'” - Kamala Harris in her 2019 Memoir “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey”

Based on Harris’ quote, we see the universal challenge of travel that comes from learning a language and a sense of the cultural assimilation that takes place when moving to a new country. 

During Vice President Kamala Harris’ first days in office, she made one of her first international calls to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Treadeau. These travel experiences abroad have created an ability to strengthen international relationships. 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In Berlin 

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited the Berlin Wall, it was less than five years old and John F. Kennedy had been assassinated within recent memory. Dr. King gave a moving speech that focused on the call for unity around the world. 

Original photo courtesy of PhotoQuest—Getty Images

“There is no East, no West, no North, no South, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole, wide world.” 

“Men and women search for meaning, hope for fulfillment, yearn for faith in something beyond themselves, and cry desperately for love and community to support them in this pilgrim journey.”

He called to break down the barriers that were separating people and to find meaning in literal and figurative common ground, given that Jim Crow laws and segregation still existed at the time of his speech.  

In the honor of late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., many countries around the world have incorporated his name on streets and in public spaces around the world.  

The words and connections that American black leaders have made around the world continue to leave an indelible mark on global community. Their work and effort to break down barriers and bring the world closer together resonates with our organization’s motto: “Through international exposure, we mature to be a more understanding, respectful, and impassioned world.” We will only grow and truly embrace that maturation as a worldwide community if black voices and the black community have the support of all organizations in our space. 

The importance of organizations that support diversity and inclusion, and during this month particularly, organizations that support black students and students of color. In the field of international education, diverse student representation in study abroad matters, and with that in mind, we ask that you please support our friends the following organizations:

Teens of Color Abroad

Diversity Abroad

URep Abroad

Did we miss a great organization that we should add to the list? Please email Joe Meringolo (joe@edodyssey.com)

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Sources:

Belfer, Ilana. “Kamala Harris’ Montreal High School Posted Her Yearbook Photos From 1981.” MTL Blog, 8 Nov. 2020, www.mtlblog.com/en-ca/news/montreal/kamala-harris-montreal-high-school-posted-her-yearbook-photos-from-1981.

Bilefsky, Dan. “Kamala Harris’s ‘Canadian Dream.’” The New York Times, 3 Nov. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/09/world/canada/kamala-harris-canada.html.

Harris, Nadia-Elysse. “Martin Luther King, Jr. Traveled About 6 Million Miles Between 1957 And 1968.” TravelNoire, 18 Jan. 2019, travelnoire.com/martin-luther-king-jr-traveled-about-6-million-miles-between-1957-and-1968.

MacDonald, Thomas. “Former Montrealer VP Kamala Harris Spoke About Her Time In The City With Trudeau.” MTL Blog, 2 Feb. 2021, www.mtlblog.com/en-ca/news/montreal/former-montrealer-vp-kamala-harris-spoke-about-her-time-in-the-city-with-trudeau.

Reynolds, Christopher. “The 5 Places That Shaped Kamala Harris, Including Montreal.” Los Angeles Times, 9 Nov. 2020, www.latimes.com/travel/story/2020-08-11/five-places-that-have-shaped-kamala-harris.

Selena Ross, and Selena Ross. “‘How Canadian Is She?’ Probably More than You Think, Say Kamala Harris’ One-Time Montreal Classmates.” Montreal, 12 Aug. 2020, montreal.ctvnews.ca/how-canadian-is-she-probably-more-than-you-think-say-kamala-harris-one-time-montreal-classmates-1.5060720.

Wazman, Olivia. “What Martin Luther King Jr. Said About Walls During His 1964 Visit to Berlin.” Time, 18 Jan. 2019, time.com/5504826/martin-luther-king-wall-history.

Williams, Yohuru. “Martin Luther King and ‘God’s Children’ on Both Sides of the Border Wall.” Progressive.Org, 9 May 2019, progressive.org/dispatches/martin-luther-king-gods-children-borderwall-Williams-190115.

Why Gratefulness in 2021 Matters

A new year and new semester is now underway, but it is never too late to reflect on what last year left us with, and to ask ourselves: was everything we went through even worth it? How could we really take something positive out of such an intense year? 

The entire world breathed a collective sigh of relief when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve and the calendar read 2021.

However, if you are still feeling exhausted, drained and stuck under the weight of 2020, our team wants to let you know that you are not alone and we felt important to reflect on this sentiment and to keep it all in perspective.

Grateful for Challenges

Although we’d all like to pretend the past year didn’t happen, or that it is already in the past, it’s important that we pay very close attention to all those challenges that made it such an intense year and to learn from them.

To many of us, 2020 meant a significant and major change on our routines, plans, goals and on our personal structures too. 

And for you, if you’re a high school or college student, it meant a significant change in terms of your learning process, but also your way of socializing. You adapted to new ways of studying, communicating and connecting not only with your classmates and teachers but with your friends and family too, and you worked to overcome those difficult challenges. 

The challenges that you’ve faced as an individual within a bigger society have left us with major lessons about solidarity, justice, and adaptability that we all need to implement in our current, respective lives. Collectively, we’ll take these lessons to build a new one that goes beyond society itself and structure a new sense of community: a much more conscious, compassionate and responsible one. 

Just as for us, as a company and as a group of individuals from around the world: many of our plans had to change when the pandemic hit, and we were suddenly stuck in a dense uncertainty cloud with no clear path in front of us. However, it was right in the middle of the crisis that our team found a way to rise above the challenge of the pandemic together, as we’ve always been, and luckily with the same team we had at the start of 2020. 

Grateful for Innovation

For our team, we created two passport-free programs to provide students the ability to connect with an international experience, even if it was virtual. Our Virtual Study Abroad program in partnership with the most prestigious university in Peru, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Additionally, our team created an unbelievable Medical Spanish & Latinx Patient Program integrated Medical Spanish language classes.

Each program had workshops focused on latin culture backgrounds too that are both online and affordable options for students in need of, even under hard circumstances, continue learning and exploring into global perspectives.

Grateful for Growth

So, how could each and everyone one of us feel grateful for 2020? During last year, have you reflected on the fact that challenges, such as economic and political crises and health systems collapsing, have always been a common thing in the world?

They didn’t start in 2020, but somehow no year has ever brought out in such a uniform way, how necessary it is to start thinking even more collectively and to take responsibility for ourselves and others, and how little we really need to live happily.

Challenges will always be a common denominator that we all need to adapt too. So, going from there, why don’t we start approaching life from a grateful, wider perspective and focus on everything we have instead of everything we lack? 

Let’s appreciate what last year taught us. 

Let’s not forget all of those things that let us shine our truest and most vulnerable essence. 

Let’s grow into kindness, respect and care for and to one another. 

Let’s see life from a grateful approach.

Take a minute to think about this and reflect: what are you grateful for today? 

Our team is hopeful the world will become a better and safer place for all of us. We are grateful for being alive, healthy and for the incredible opportunity to keep doing what we love most, despite what’s happening in the world. 

As our organization looks ahead, we are very excited to welcome a new year with you and thrilled to tell you about all of what we have planned for you both online and through future in-person programs.

This 2021 is filled with travel opportunities we need to know how to take advantage of in the most careful and responsible possible way. 

Want to keep connected with us and learn more about our programs ahead? Don’t forget to follow us on all of our social media below! Let’s get it started!

From Bicultural Upbringing to Study Abroad in Rome: Hui's Story

Hello! My name is Hui (pronounced “Huay” and rhymes with “way”). I am a Chinese-American college student from Boston. As a recent study abroad returnee and avid traveller from a young age, I am a firm believer of EdOdyssey’s motto “Travel Changes People, People Change the World.”

Traveling is more than just collecting souvenirs - you collect experiences and memories as well!

BICULTURAL YOUTH 

My family and I moved to Boston when I was very young, and I have a strong cultural connection to China, where all of my relatives are from. I grew up speaking mostly Mandarin Chinese at home and learned almost all of my English at school. I love learning about different cultures and how they shape the mindsets of people around the world; I combined these two passions into my two majors in college: Classics (the study of ancient Greece, Rome, and other cultures in the ancient Mediterranean) and psychology. 

Outside of class, I help with the school newspaper. It’s good to try new things and gain new skills!

COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

The best part about learning is that it is not limited to the classroom. I learned a lot from extracurricular activities such as helping with photography, writing, and graphic design for the student-run newspaper. I am excited to bring these skills to the EdOdyssey team this summer - my experience helped me with my role as a study abroad blogger when I spent a semester in Rome last fall.

STUDY ABROAD: ROME

Studying in Rome was a dream come true: it was one thing to learn about ancient Rome in school, but it was really something else to see the sights and artifacts that you see in books become a part of everyday life. I loved exploring how the past overlaps with the present through my adventures in the city and beyond. Learning directly from the place itself changed me and how I saw the world: I learned to contemplate how both ancient and recent events affect people in the present and future.

It was amazing to see the place I had first seen in my books come to life in front of me!

POWER OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES

Travel does change people: I can attest to that personally from my own travels. In seeing different parts of the world, I learned to view things from new perspectives.

Everywhere I went, I developed a new connection with each place I visited. When you experience a place in person, you gain a deeper understanding of its history, people, and culture.

As I explored new places, I took in all the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings around me. Taking in everything a place has to offer allows you to appreciate even the smallest details beyond the surface.

Immersive experiences abroad bring you so much more than a tourist trip - you get a lot of hands-on experience with cultural activities!

TRAVEL INSPIRES

These eye-opening experiences allowed me to change the world in my own way. When I returned to campus after my semester in Rome, several younger students who read about my adventures through my blog told me that they wanted to experience new things by travelling to other countries themselves. 

It was very touching to see that my love for learning through can spark the same enthusiasm in others. I see this as the way that travel has changed me and it will help me change the world. I hope my work at EdOdyssey can continue to inspire others to enrich their lives by travelling abroad.

Want to learn more about how travel changes people and people change the world? Check out the reflections of our travel-loving writers and content on the EdOdyssey blog here!

The Power Behind the Travel Investment: Perspective From The Wandering Investor

EdOdyssey sat down with Brendan Hughes, the author of the upcoming book The Wandering Investor, to discuss the travel experience and how times have changed in the era of COVID-19.

Q: Tell us about your background.

A: My lifelong love for travel spawned when I was in college attending James Madison University. While I didn’t realize it at the time, my study abroad experience in Antwerp, Belgium (if you have the means to do it make sure you study abroad while still in school!) where I was fortunate enough to visit about 10 European countries along the way changed my life forever.

I firmly believe that travel is the single best way to learn, as you get real firsthand knowledge of how the world really works in other cultures. I currently work as an Investment Advisor for Lafayette Investments and have 8 years of professional experience in the Finance field.

I have made it a priority to go on 1-2 international trips a year, as it keeps me well grounded in developments going on around the world in addition to the enjoyment factor I get from the experience. I spent the last 5 years working on a book titled The Wandering Investor; details about the book can be found at the end of this article.

Q: Why do you consider traveling such a good investment?

A: There is no better way in the world to learn than to immerse yourself in another culture, especially if that culture materially diverges from your daily life. Reading is obviously a great way to learn but when you are observing the way of life in another country you will find that you will learn things that you weren’t even intending to seek information about.

For example, walking into a store and observing the sales tactics of the associates will tell you a lot about the local people and culture. In Peru, you will find that salesmen will often use a sales approach where the worker tries to make a sale by telling the customer a story about the origins of a particular product.

This sales style contrasts sharply with Moroccan sales culture where the underlying premise is basically to aggressively engage the potential customer until they ultimately give in and make a purchase. It is things like this that you can really only learn from experiencing different local cultures and I don’t believe there is a substitute.

Q: What are your thoughts on travel in the era of COVID-19?

A: I think you will see permanent reductions in travel in some areas such as business travel where employers are suddenly re-thinking sending employees to another city for a 1 hour meeting that can arguably be handled with a video conference call. From an everyday consumer perspective, it is difficult to say at this time how it will play out because there are so many uncertainties as to when a COVID-19 vaccine will become widely available and how quickly consumers will begin traveling at levels seen prior to the COVID-19 outbreak (if ever).

Some of the recent projections show that air travel won’t reach pre- pandemic levels until 2023 or 2024 but nobody really has any idea where we will be a few years from now. What I can say with high confidence is that the value proposition of total international cultural immersion is stronger than ever and I don’t see that changing in the future. I can understand the logic behind a reduction in business travel for meetings that could be handled with a short video conference, but it is a completely different ball game when you are talking about areas such as study abroad.

If students decided to only opt for a virtual study abroad experience in place of actually living internationally for a semester or summer program, I think they would be missing out on the highest value added parts of the educational experience. You aren’t going to get the life lessons in terms of observations about things such as local sales tactics which in my opinion is where the bulk of the value of the entire idea of study abroad is derived.

The Wandering Investor Book Description:

This book takes the reader on a unique journey around the world in a discussion about various economies, my personal adventures along the way, business outlooks and observations for each country, lists of recommended activities in each country with a focus on outdoor adventure experiences, and lessons learned in terms of both travel and business.

Given my experience as an investment advisor and what I would consider to be a deep knowledge base when it comes to global adventure excursions, I believe this writing provides a much different perspective than your average travel or investment book. It reads like a thriller in detailing extreme activities such as skydiving over Queenstown, New Zealand, while weaving in the details mentioned above. I will cover my travels across 17 countries spread out across six continents.

As of the time of this writing, I had visited 28 countries. This book is the culmination of five years of work and thousands of hours of research in terms of country-specific macroeconomic data, information about local laws and regulations, historical facts about specific countries, and recommendations for mostly adventure-related activities.

Do you want to read our more in-depth interview from earlier this year? Check out How To Make Travel a Lifelong Investment.

Book Title: The Wandering Investor

Author: Brendan Hughes

Date Book is Available: Presale begins later this summer, 2020

Brendan’s Email Address: Hughes2525@gmail.com

The views and opinions expressed in guest features on EdOdyssey’s blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of EdOdyssey. Any content provided by our bloggers or guest authors are of their opinion.