“You will never advance far in your understanding of another culture if you devote yourself to exclaiming that some things about it are wonderful and other things are terrible. This comes under the heading of entertainment and should not be confused with understanding. No society is all good or all bad and the discovery that any particular society is compounded of both good and bad is not a very impressive finding. What you must try to do is understand what problems a society faces, why it has developed the way it has, why it has certain characteristics rather than others, and why it does some things so well and others so badly.”
— John Gardner
The IHP study abroad experience I chose was set to go to all these countries for about 5 weeks each, except for the launch program in Georgia where we spent 2 weeks. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the world started to shut down and countries began closing borders to foreign travel. With increasing pressure on our program coordinators to make the best decisions for the safety of us and others, they made the inevitable decision to send us home, ending the travel portion of our semester. Even though this opportunity was shortened, the lessons and experiences are something that will stay with me throughout my life. While I try to figure out my place in this world, these places and people continue to shape how I think about what I want my impact to be.
Here is a snapshot of the couple months we spent in Georgia and Ecuador.
