A World Beyond Our Own
I have a deep personal fascination with the world beyond my immediate surroundings. I enjoy learning about the lived experiences of people with upbringings and backgrounds different from my own. Between learning about other cultures’ traditions, food, and social norms, I am consistently reminded of just how vast and different the world is beyond the United States.
I believe everyone should learn about or experience different cultures at some point in their lives, but unfortunately, many never do. According to the Center for American Progress, only 53.1 percent of Americans have a passport, leaving 46.9 percent of the population potentially never having left US soil. This is a concept often foreign to other countries, as the number of citizens with passports is much higher than in our own.
Despite our country’s lower rate of international experiences, our schools are filled with individuals who have lived and learned across the globe. Every semester, students from all over the world come to the United States to continue their education. They leave behind their everyday lives to experience somewhere new. Over the last several weeks, I had the opportunity to learn about these experiences from individuals beyond our borders.
In this series of stories, I will cover four international students at Maryville University from four different countries and their journeys to the United States. Follow along as I sit down with students from Germany, Sweden, Brazil, and Egypt to share their journeys, cultural takeaways, and experiences far from home.
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