There’s a trend in international education circles (especially at American universities) to talk about “Internationalization at home.” I started thinking that there might be some ways to adapt this to “travel at home,” and I don’t mean taking a road-trip to the nearest national park.
Some of the top benefits of studying abroad are a deeper understand of a foreign culture, personal development and confidence based on success outside one’s comfort-zone, appreciation for the comforts of home as well as an ability to criticize one’s home country from an outside perspective, and the friendships with people with different lifestyles / worldviews. In many ways I would say that any form of living abroad or long-term travel can also produce these benefits, all of which are severely needed in a world that is increasingly shrinking due to globalization but still dangerously resistant to change and “difference”. Hence the purpose of the entire How To Go Abroad project, to encourage everyone who has an interest in going abroad to do it!
But not everyone can pull up roots and move to a foreign country, whether to work or study, and International Education professionals have created ways to promote some of the advantages listed above for students who can’t leave home. This includes making more effort to mix domestic and international students in classes to promote more view points, placing students in 1-2 week “immersion” experiences with a host family in a local minority family (Spanish speakers, for example), identifying “foreign” cultures within the local community and creating interactive projects together, and encouraging students to volunteer in vulnerable communities to see another side of their own culture.
You’re probably already getting some ideas of what I mean, but don’t get ahead of me! I will admit that if by “travel” you’re thinking of two weeks in a European capital full of sight-seeing and good food (and there’s nothing wrong with that!), this will not scratch that itch. If you’re interested in the real experience of living in a foreign culture and learning to understand the world and yourself better, then here are some ways you can do that quite effectively (in exactly the same way you would if you were abroad) without leaving your own city:
1. Arm-Chair Travel: this is less immersive than the others (remember, the key is pushing yourself out of your comfort zone!) but still useful. Take out a world map with your family, and you all fill out 5-10 cards with names of countries you’re interested in learning more about. At the start of each month you draw a card and during the course of the month you put up some photographs from that country, read the Wikipedia page about the country (or something else that gives you a brief background) try to visit one restaurant from (or close to) that country, watch a movie filmed there or about its history, learn to say “hello” “thank you” and “good-bye” in the local language, and try (and fail) to sing the national anthem. If you’re really into it, try to find someone from that country and invite them to dinner! Check that country off the list, you’ve learned more about it than most tourist do in a week of actually being there!
2. Interact: You can’t have cultural immersion without people, and the internet makes it easy to find people from different cultures / languages / walks of life / religions / class. Meetup.com makes it easy to find groups based on certain interests, so go to one you know nothing about! Worst case scenario it’s awkward and uncomfortable, and you know what?... welcome to life in a foreign country! You can also use counchsurfing.com to find tourists or expats who want to meet locals for a coffee, and there are many other similar apps designed to bring people together. You know how everyone talks about “meeting the locals” when you’re abroad? Well you’re the local now, get out there and meet the foreigners!
3. Explore: You need to do some errands or just take the dog for a walk? Take out a map of your city, find a neighborhood you’ve never been to, go there and find a way to take care of your errands. Walk there if you can, you’ll see a lot of new scenery. Once there, find a supermarket you’ve never been in, a pharmacy, etc. Ask people on the street, look around, try a new café. You get the idea, explore and put yourself in new environments. Ideally this puts you into contact with people you don’t normally interact with.
4. Be a tourist: What would a tourist do in your city for a day? Set aside a Saturday, get a camera, and act like you have one day in the city and you’ll never see it again. This might mean photographing downtown, hunting down the local delicacy, or just reading a book by a scenic river. Soak it all up.
5. Branch out: Identify cultural events and study up on them before you attend, as if you were living in that culture and trying to integrate yourself. Is it Korean, Mexican, Indian? Learn the background of the festival and learn to say hello and thank you in the language, it might be enough to make someone’s day and get you into an enlightening conversation!
6. Get lost: Want the true experience of living abroad? Get yourself lost. Leave your phone at home, get on a local bus, wait 30 minutes, get out. Now find your way home, but take your time, ask directions, stop to explore, let things work themselves out. Somehow, they always do, and you’ll probably get a few stories along the way.
7. Reach Out: There are foreigners in your city, no matter how small. Try asking at the local university or high school, church or mosque, or local language center. Ask if there’s anything you can do to interact with or help the foreigners they work with. It can be anything from meeting for coffee to discuss each other’s cultures, being a “buddy” for a few weeks for a new international student, offering to help with their English for an hour a week, taking them to the post office, or giving them a practical tour of the neighborhood. Take it from me, foreigners are lost and we need all the help we can get. We’re also abroad because we want to interact with the locals, which is often more difficult than you would think, so we’d love to spend time with you, and you get to learn!
8. Host: The most extreme and impactful version of the previous point is to host an international student at your house for one or two semesters. There are many programs that facilitate this (comment below if you need suggestions) and it immerses you and your family into the worldview and culture of a foreigner while staying in the comfort of your own house. You’ll also start to see your home environment through their eyes, which is another benefit of living abroad!
9. Dive-in: Foreign cultures are not necessarily from foreign countries. You can get many if not all of the feelings of immersion in a “foreign” culture right at home. Go to a religious service you’re not familiar with, attend a political meeting of “the other side” and try to fit in, go to that restaurant where the menus aren’t in English and try the “point and hope for the best” method. If you’re really brave, try dressing in really wild clothes and walking around downtown (be thankful it’s just for a day, when your skin color identifies you as a foreigner you can’t take it off), try being homeless for 24 hours and sleep on the street (a real eye-opener, that one), stay downtown for a day without speaking a word of English (speak a few words or a foreign language or act like you’re deaf and type messages on your phone) or go to a concert for a completely different crowd of people (you know the one I mean). Does that all sound awkward? That’s the point. This is life abroad; you struggle outside your comfort zone and in the process you learn new things about your “home” environment and yourself and become a more informed and interesting person.
10. Challenge: Combine as many of these as you can for total “foreign” immersion at “home”!
Let me know what you think in the comments below! Thanks for reading, and if you think this is useful advice please like and share! See more at https://www.facebook.com/howtogoabroad/
Happy Adventuring!
