Back to the Real World

Towards the ende of the trip, I was more than ready to return to my good old US of A. My two month trip spanned nine different countries, making my total of countries seen in my life ten, and the wear and tear had caught up to me. The rest was short-lived after my arrival back home because three days later, I was forced to move up to College Station for soccer two-a-days. Now having reached the first round of exams for the fall semester, I find myself looking back to all that I learned this summer and truly appreciating the opportunity presented to me. During the first week of soccer practices, we had three students show up from out of the country: one from Russia, one from Serbia, and one from Copenhagen. Before this year, I would never have known anything about their culture, or even met anyone from their countries. This changed this summer in Europe when I actually stayed a weekend in Copenhagen, met a group of girls from Russia, and took a tour of Dachau from a professor who specializes in eastern European history, while speaking Serbian and Russian. I was able to relate to these people’s lives and more importantly, knew what it was like to enter a new country where I did not know anything of their social practices. I went out of my way to make them feel comfortable in their new environment. In this example, I think the greatest lesson can be viewed. The ability to relate to others is key to not only individual success but for global success. I feel that my experiences in various countries throughout Europe have provided me with the tools to deal with people from all walks of life and all continents, for it is not the understanding of their beliefs that is the key, just the accepting that there is a difference.