Growing up I always envisioned myself travelling but I thought that this dream was so far away. I would pass by the airport and say to myself as I was watched the planes take off, "one day I'm going to be taking off on one too". Little did I know, I would get this wish and so much more when I cam to FIU. I did not just want to travel I wanted to learn about different cultures and languages and have the chance to connect with people outside of America. That is why I decided to study Chinese and broaden my global perspective and understand how people from around the world think and feel about the issues of today.
During the summer after my freshmen year, I travelled halfway across the globe to China. I had not realized how difficult travelling was until I touched down in Beijing. Automatically I felt lost, everything around me was completely different and I hadn't even touched outside of the airport yet. I already could note how people interacted and behaved versus Miami. Culturally everything had switched and even though I was aware of these cultural differences before I was still experiencing culture shock. Within the first couple of hours I actually wanted to back home, I thought perhaps I leapt too far out of my comfort zone. During my stay, I was living with a host family and this gave me a lot of insight into how my host family viewed certain issues versus how the people around me in Miami viewed certain issues. we discussed colourism, violence, poverty and various topics that entailed the human condition. I was also able to interview students at the school I was studying at on these various issues as well. I noticed a difference between our views but we all held the same shared human experience. We all go through similar situations even if we do live halfway across the ocean.
After this trip, I continued my global learning by taking a course in How to Change The World. I was able to research and put together a memo on the best practices in Public Housing Worldwide. Being able to see how other places deal with housing inequality really helped me better understand how the local government in South Florida and Nationwide can create a policy that will help and not harm those in Public Housing. It was a shock to learn that here in the states people have to pay 30% of their income on housing and how that will eventually rise to 40% but in other parts of the world, some people pay 15%-20%.
In my Junior year I was able to go back to China but this time it was to study hospitality. This trip differed from my first one because I now got to see how China's hospitality deals with certain problems, such as climate change and sustainability. Through one of my global learning classes, I was lucky enough to learn about sustainable practices in the industry and, in turn, I was able to compare how we developed sustainable practices compared to China. I was also able to see how the legal system differs from the American one through the hospitality class. this made me overall more globally aware of key differences in our two societies on a corporate level.
Although I was able to experience and understand numerous global perspectives throughout my time at FIU and being a Global Learning participant, I still have so much more to learn. It is amazing to see how different people from around the world solve common problems that are prevalent in South Florida and the nation as a whole. It really makes me want to continue to expand my knowledge and venture to different countries to continue my research. I know the information and experiences that I have gained will help me in my future career as prosector, I will not only look at things from a narrow angle but I will consider every perspective. I can bring ideas and solutions from various parts of the world right to South Florida.