I read two rough drafts in class today, Marilea’s and Hammad’s. They were excellently written papers. Definitely better than mine! Marilea’s paper was about her heritage of being Lutheran. Hammad’s was centered on his international background and how it has formed him as a person. Papers like those are easier to write as a student and easier to read as a peer editor. I like hearing people’s stories. They are much more interesting than an academic paper.
Hammad’s story was unique because he is an international student from Saudi Arabia. I think that is so cool! His paper was intriguing to me because of how different his life has been from my experience as an American. His three places were his hometown in Saudi Arabia; Beirut, Lebanon; and College Station, USA.
His paper made me wish to have more international experience. I have been to three nations outside of America. They are Canada, Mexico, and Belize. My grandparents live in Canada so I have been there 3 or 4 times in my life. Canada is really similar to America. They have British backgrounds which is readily apparent. Although it is awesome that in Canada the 2nd language is French instead of English! I think it would have been cool to learn French instead of Spanish in school!
I have been to Mexico a total of 3 times. Two times for a mission trip in middle school and once for a cruise with my family. I really enjoy Mexico and I wouldn’t mind living there at all. I think Spanish is a beautiful language and I hope to be fluent in it one day. I am not exactly sure why I am so attracted to Mexico and Latin America in general. I have been for most of my life. When I was younger, I read many books about missionaries to Latin America and wanted to follow their path there. I enjoy the life in Mexico. In some places it is very similar to Western culture but in other places it is very different. The culture in Mexico has a long history and as a result has a very important place among Mexicans. Their festivals and celebrations are very different than the traditions we have here in America. I have a friend who went to Mexico City for language school instead of going to college her first semester. I think that is awesome. I would highly enjoy doing that.
Reading these papers whose topics are tied into the greater international culture makes me want to travel. After much consideration, I think Europe is my number one choice of places to go to. The history there would be amazing to see. To narrow it down, I really want to visit England. They have such a more colorful history than America and I think their accents are funny. One of the things I would want to do in England would be to see a “football” game there. I would want to see if it would be comparable to an aggie football game here. Probably not but it would be worth a try.
Besides England, Germany would be my second choice of a place to visit. My grandmother is German and I would really like to see how life is in Germany. I would like to visit the town she is from and see what it is like. I think I still have distant relatives there so I would want to visit them. Of course like any sane person, I want to drive on the Autobahn. That would be fun. Dangerous. But very fun. I think it would be cool to learn German and then visit Germany. Visiting a nation is always more enjoyable if you can communicate with the locals.
Hopefully one day I will get the opportunity to visit these nations. It would be an amazing experience! Until then, I have a lot of work to do on learning languages and getting through college.
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