When I transitioned from high school to college, my personality and attitude toward the educational system drastically changed. I never struggled with the differing atmosphere of college compared to high school, but rather the politics in regards to the academics of college. Before I entered into college, for example, I felt that when I entered into college I could finally study what I wanted to study. Yet, when I entered college, I realized that I still had to fulfill several general education requirements.
As a result, I developed a very bitter and cynical attitude towards the power of the educational system. For instance, I couldn’t understand that I only needed one history course to graduate from the University of Minnesota whereas I needed four semesters of a foreign language. The latter is just one example that exemplifies my original disappointment while in college. Nonetheless, I eventually became frustrated when my university decided against compromising with me. For instance, I was not allowed to take more classes from within my major to make-up for the foreign language requirement, and nor could I take a combination of other classes, such as history or communication classes to substitute for the language requirement.
So when I first witnessed the politics involved in college, I clearly developed a bitter attitude toward the power of the post-secondary educational system. In short, when I entered college for the first time I discovered that the world is not a compromising place, especially if you’re one student up against a conglomerate of board members, a conglomerate consisting of not one person fluent in a second language.
Question: Have you ever traveled anywhere that influenced you to change your behaviors, attitudes, personality, etc? Or, have you ever felt like a stranger in your own country? If so, how did that make you feel? If not, how do you think that would make you feel?
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I don't think I've ever traveled anywhere that has made me change my attitude about something, or my personality, and I don't really ever think I've felt like a stranger to my own country either. I think if I felt like I didn't belong in my own country I would feel lost and wonder where then I would belong. It would be difficult to fit in, and may be hard for me to meet people. I would not appreciate not feeling welcome or like a stranger in the country I live in and love. I'm sure there are probably a lot of people that do feel like strangers to their countries, and I feel very bad for them because I can't imagine that!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have ever traveled anywhere that has made me changed my behavior as well. I have gone away for vacation and come up with some life revelations that make me want to change. But it is usually due to being somewhere away from home where I can read and think and reboot myself. Being away from home always makes me reevaluate the behaviors and attitudes I cary through into my real life away from vacations. If I did feel like a stranger in my own country I think I would have a bit of fear and not feel safe. If I don't feel comfortable somewhere than I don't feel safe, which is not a comfortable feeling for me.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Mexico multiple times and their culture is so much different from ours and it makes me wonder why we are the way we are. Here in the United States we don't like to talk to strangers and we aren't very forward with people, and in Mexico it is the exact opposite. Yes, sometimes it did make me feel uncomfortable, but most of the time it was fun to meet new people and speak to them in their own language. I was told I was beautiful about a million times and even though this gets old it makes you feel really good about yourself. I just wish that Americans weren't so exclusive and were more open to getting to know others. When I attended the U of M I felt like a stranger there. In my small town you can say hi to random people walking down the street and when I tried it in the city I received dirty looks. It frustrated me as to how much people are unwilling to just be nice to a person passing by on the street.
ReplyDeleteMy family and I traveled to Boston one summer and I felt like a stranger in my own country there. First off, I am not use to big metropolitan areas so that threw me off. I felt like I was constantly lost and didn’t quite understand the whole public transportation system. The thick accent that most people had in Boston also made it seem like I was in a different country because I had a hard time understanding them. I felt very frustrated and scared during parts of the trip.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that I have ever traveled anywhere that would want to change or influence the way that I am. I wish that I could go somewhere though that would have a huge impact on me and make me think about the life I am living.
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