Our Guest Blogger is Jamie, one of our amazing tutors!
Nothing can help you understand the larger world around you more than interacting with cultures and people that are different than what you are used to. Everyone on the planet is together as one species; it is the places where we live and the traditions or norms that we follow that help us develop into the people we are today. Interacting with people from different cities, states, countries, and continents can help you better understand different cultures and the world around you at large. With each of these interactions in which we experience the world around us, we take a piece of that culture and carry it forward with us in our everyday lives.
Although having souvenirs or gifts from a place you have visited is always a nice reminder of times gone by, the piece of culture you save can be figurative as well. The culture you take with you can be memorizing a new song, learning to make a new cultural dish, experiencing a new lesson about humanity, or developing a new outlook on the world you didn’t have before the interaction.
Whether it is learning about cultures through books or the Internet, traveling to a new place, or conversing on PEERS edu with users from around the world, interacting with different people, places, and cultures is an important experience for me. I go into each of these interactions with an open mind. I have the opportunity to learn from a person who became an expert in their culture by living his or her life each and every day. I return the favor by talking to others about my home and the differences it has in comparison to other parts of the world. Each and every time I experience a new aspect of culture or language, I take a part of it with me into my everyday life and use it to grow as a person going forward. This is something you can do as well, as long as you keep an open mind and a willingness to learn.
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