June, the beginning of summer, means time off of school for my students and the opportunity for travel. Mark Twain once said “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
Every two years, I travel with a group of my students to Europe. In 2007, I accompanied a group of 42 students and parents. One of my students, Scott, was taken by the France and the French. He used the language he had learned in the classroom and absorbed other language and culture like a sponge. It was such fun for me to watch Scott as he experienced all things French. The trip was his first exposure to Europe, and he was loving it!
In the fall of that year, Scott was off to college and by the spring semester, he let me know that he had decided to declare French as a major at college. Scott was excelling in his French classes and was eager to learn as much as he could. He shared stories with me about literature classes and art classes. The next obvious step for him was to consider a study abroad program. During his sophomore year at college, Scott began to look at his options.
Because our summer trip had been predominantly to the Normandy region of France, Scott decided that he would really like to study at a university in that region. His advisor ultimately found him a university in the city of Caen. Scott would be spending the fall semester of his junior year in Caen.
As he prepared for his adventure in France, I knew that Scott would take advantage of any opportunity that came his way during his semester abroad. He opted for a home stay instead of taking up residency in one of the university’s housing facilities. Scott was afraid that if he stayed in university housing that he might spend more time speaking English than speaking French.
Throughout the course of his stay, I received messages from Scott telling me about new things that he had tried and places that he had visited. He shared stories of people he met from all over the world. And his French language was improving by leaps and bounds.
I was able to visit with Scott during the Christmas holidays after his return from France. While we ate, I observed a young man who had changed. His world view had expanded and the French culture had become part of him. He had left his little corner of the earth for a while and returned a changed person who now understood that throughout the world we’re all different, but we’re all the same.
Take some time to travel this summer, leave your corner of the earth and come home changed!
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