I don’t know if I can truly relay the excitement I felt when I checked my email a few weeks ago and discovered I would be spending two weeks of my summer in South Korea as a 2010 Korea Society Fellow!!! I have since gone through a number of phases – sheer excitement as I envisioned the amazing places I would visit, slight terror as I searched online and stumbled upon a web page in all Korean Hangul, and now, again, excitement as my sense of adventure has returned and readied me for my endeavors.
As a high school student I constantly dreamed of visiting the far off lands described in my history classes, but it was only ever a dream. While a history major at Furman University I sought out potential foreign study programs, set my sights, and actually burst into tears of joy when I was accepted to the winter Baltic Program for 2005 – in my mind, my dreams had come true. I spent six weeks studying political science and history while visiting Germany, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. I learned then how powerful travel study programs could be. We met with diplomats, political party representatives, college professors, local historians, and guides as we learned about the integration of the European Union and the colorful history of the Baltic region. Nearly every day was a magical adventure for me and I quickly found myself falling deeply in love with foreign travel.
Since my first step out of the United States, exploring the world has become my focus. Fortunately my husband is right there with me and we have spent the past four years traveling together – we have spent at least three months abroad together since we were married! I had the distinct honor of participating in the Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Teacher’s Program during the summer of 2008 and have since been able to create and teach my semester elective, Holocaust Studies. On nearly a daily basis my travels transcend into my classroom and I have the joy of sharing pictures, personal stories, brochures, or bits of knowledge from a seminar I attended overseas. Since 2005 I have visited twenty-four countries and will be visiting another three this summer.
As an education professional, traveling has helped me reach three essential conclusions… First, travel study has strengthened my content knowledge and my ability to convey information to my students tremendously. I integrate first-hand knowledge nearly every day. Second, different is just different. Different isn’t weird or bad or strange…it is simply and complexly…different. And third, I want my students to want to travel and to have an invested interest in the world.
How better to encourage them to travel then to model it for them, right? :)
I am creating this blog with the hope of sharing my experiences with my students as my daunting adventure unfolds. The program is designed in a way that should allow me to write some of the evenings – but I truly won’t know how frequently until I am there. Thank you in advance for reading. Comments, questions, and thoughts are all appreciated!
I’m off to explore!
-Beth Hals
Social Studies Department
Melbourne Central Catholic High School
