The Best Way to Learn About “America” (and yourself) is to Leave It.

by Dr. Heather Tracy, Ed.D. Posted on Medium at: https://medium.com/@drheathertracy/the-best-way-to-learn-about-america-and-yourself-is-to-leave-it-1cef548fb43f 

​Immersing in a new culture made me whole in places where I didn’t even know I was broken.

Find an opportunity to leave. I’m not talking about a 2 week trip to a Mediterranean island, which although lovely, basically leaves you with a very nice tan and a smaller bank account. I’m talking about real cultural immersion and all of the messiness that comes with it — the language, the food, the driving, the music, the politics, the weather, and the people.
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Why bother? The challenges life hands you abroad may be much more difficult outside of your comfort zone, but the benefits — if you are open to them — will change you, your perspective, and your life for the better. Yes, you will (hopefully) learn a marketable skill by mastering another language. But perhaps more importantly, you will learn problem-solving, empathy, humility, patience, perspective, openness, and completely new ways of communicating — not to mention the grit and confidence that you can indeed get through pretty much anything.
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