Tag Archives: Personal Development

2012

A new friend I made in Beijing!

I love New Year’s. While there is admittedly little literal significance between December 31st and January 1st, the symbolism it represents is quite momentous. New Year’s represents a unified moment in time when the entire world figuratively writes the concluding sentence on its most recent chapter, and together turns the page to begin scripting the next segment of history. And so, as we stand between the end of another chaotic holiday season and the resumption of our academic and professional careers, I’d like to spend time reflecting on three observations I made in 2011, and on professing three resolutions I have established for 2012 – in hopes that it may inspire you as much as I believe this will motivate me.

Continue reading

China Capstone

One of the many trips to Olympic Green.

Since I’ve returned from Beijing, I’ve gotten a lot of questions asking “how was China?”  While I would love to share my thoughts on this manner, I realize that most conversations only leave room for a “great” or “different, but cool” type of response without going into details.  So consider this post to be an explanation of why my answers are brief, but even more so, I hope this post motivates more individuals to consider spending lengthy periods of time overseas in hope that their perspective and experiences will expand.  Read on for my thoughts on studying abroad!

Continue reading

You Should be Fluent by Now!

Six guys from five different countries = Awesome.

When a student leaves their home country to go overseas and study abroad, there is a phrase that they probably hear way too much of upon initial departure: “you better be fluent in (insert name of host country language here) when you get back!”  Now, it’s natural to encourage and expect language development from an experience abroad; but I think that actual, legitimate linguistic improvement takes a greater effort than most that never go abroad realize.

Continue reading