My best learning experience…
For me, my best learning experience takes place not in a classroom or through formal instruction, but through the invaluable experience of travelling the world. When I was 13 years old, my family and I packed our bags and left Canada to spend the next year of our lives in 31 different countries across the globe. Looking back now, I see that year-long adventure as a time in which I learned more about myself and the world around me than what 15 years of formal education could ever teach me. Through direct and uninstructed experiences, I learned languages, world geography, environmental sciences and above all, differing ways of life within many cultures around the world. I gained insight into how I fit into the world around me and began to understand the ways in which I am privileged. I remember experiencing the life of people living in poverty, from the favelas in Brazil to the streets of Indonesia, seeing people who were struggling to access clean water, affordable food and safe shelter. I remember walking past war amputees struggle to make a meager living without their limbs, selling souvenirs to tourists. I remember complaining that we didn’t have warm water for showers or that my feet hurt from walking all day, or that we couldn’t find peanut butter in any store. This experience humbled me, served my privilege on a silver platter and showed me that my experience of life in Canada is not universal, that the world can be unkind and unforgiving to those born into a different kind of life. However, I also learned joy, celebration, and the importance of meaningful human connection. I danced in the streets with locals, bathed with elephants in the river, celebrated new holidays, and heard life stories from people around the world. I learned how to appreciate everything that life has to offer, to make beauty out of very little, to love unconditionally and enjoy the simple moments of happiness in each day. I thoroughly enjoyed this incredible learning experience because I felt like I wasn’t learning at all, I was just following my parents around the globe and having fun. I enjoyed this learning experience because I wasn’t being taught and there were no expectations or exams, just the simple act of living life as it was that day. I was an active participant in my environment, taking in the world around me, but not realizing the how impactful those experiences would be, translating to a greater understanding of what life truly means.
Linked blog post
Leave a Reply