Reflecting on a year spent abroad

Southeast Missourian

When this article runs, I will have less than a month before I make the flight back across the Pond. Everything is starting to wind down: school ends this Friday; students here have "summer fever" already; lazy afternoons with barbecues are being planned. All of these are signs that my departure is rapidly approaching.

At the end of any action, voyage or anything that one puts his or her heart, soul and mind into, there is a time of reflection and self-evaluation. "What was my goal?"

"Did I fulfill said goal to satisfaction?"

I feel that the process of writing these past articles for 10 months deserves the same amount of reflection -- if not for me, then for you, the reader.

Ultimately, my goal from the first article was to inform you about another culture. But as my adventure advanced, so too did my goals in writing. We are all world citizens and at the halfway mark, my goal was to motivate others to fulfill their world citizenship (if that only meant taking time to read the world section in the newspaper -- after my article, of course!)

Now as I near the end, my goal in writing this monthly installment has morphed to a more definite end: to motivate high school students, their parents and foreign language teachers to become interested in breaking the mold of the "traditional student" currently in or coming out of high school. This experience is full of ups and downs, moments of happiness and of strong homesickness; this is not for the weak stomachs, the faint of heart or those who lack self-confidence.

Only you can ensure that my exchange hasn't been a self-serving act only, but a gateway to understanding cultures. There is no better way to understand a way of life than through total immersion. To high school students I say become curious about the world around you. To their parents, I say support and encourage your child (I could have never done this exchange without the full and total backing from my parents). And to the language teachers, I say invoke a sense of wonder and curiosity in your students about countries where their studied language is spoken.

I close with a quote from the great New York Yankees catcher, Yogi Berra: "When you get to a fork in the road, take it."

Cet échange a été formidable, et vraiment, à bientôt !