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Departure

My name is Thomas Reimer, and while I have grown up in a very culturally diverse area and had many friends not from the U.S., I have never actually been to a foreign country. I’ve always wanted to, as I want to have an experience of complete immersion in my life, although this has never happened until now. I think that this process allows for you to see how you actually react to things and allows you to empathize to a degree with the multitude of people who have had to move to vastly different countries within their life. I would say I certainly anticipate it and want to do it although at the moment I don’t feel much excitement or nervousness, which in my mind is a good thing.

I’ve always had in intense interest in language and the way it impacts the brain throughout my life, and I am interested in the way that this immersion will change the way I think and act. I have taken a fair few languages in my life (Spanish, Latin, Arabic, and now Japanese), although I haven’t really had to use them in conversation until now. I think this will have a vast difference on how my brain relates to the language as it will become less of an object and more of an instrument. I also think it will be interesting to see how my brain will attempt to make more complicated sentence structures without knowledge of more advanced grammar structures. I want to see how much my guesses actually match what people say. The main thing I want this experience to shine light upon is the way that I communicate and relate to language, as I think a foreign language gives you better conditions to test this due to your lack of familiarity with convention. I don’t really want to have very rigid and intricate goals, however, as I think it is more important to let the experience shape me than to let me shape the experience.

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Fitzpatrick Pre-Departure Prompt (post #1)

In reflection, the first things that come to mind are 1) my cultural experiences before SLA and 2) my goals for intercultural development.

I thought a lot about the intercultural learning I’ve gained so far. I have been to a few different countries with that very goal in mind. But so much of a college education here in South Bend, Indiana, has been intercultural learning. A testament to that inconceivable amount of money that it costs to be educated here, is the inconceivable amount of intercultural learning I have gained from being here. I could not have imagined that multiculturalism would be such a big part of my college education or that it would transform my mind as it has. I have learned (sometimes in disagreement with others’ opinions) that everyone has “culture” because everyone has history and a relation to it. I have examined what culture really is- scientifically, sociologically. I have begun to examine what it means to build equity with both diversity and inclusion. Intercultural learning was born from all of these things in my life, and it will continue to grow with this summer experience and as I begin my senior year.

One of my goals is to connect with people in Costa Rica, particularly through understanding ways in which they suffer and how they find resilience. For me, there are constant imperatives to explain how my people are disadvantaged, why my life matters, and even that I am a regular human like my peers. I get pretty frustrated when I have to defend or justify black American people and culture. Because this can be difficult for me, I made it my goal to connect with people in their own language and talk about forms of resilience.

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Blog Post #1: ¡Vámanos!

My world has always been one of two cultures. My mom, born and raised in Hungary, made sure our Hungarian culture always had a place in our American household. Even with a multicultural background, I still feel nervous to go to Costa Rica. It is so different from anywhere else I’ve been. I’ve already experienced some culture shock; recently, I received the address of my host family’s home. However, I was surprised to see that there is no street name or house number: instead, I must find the house based on its proximity to a known land marker. 

I have been studying Spanish since elementary school, and as a Spanish major I have a fairly strong language background. However, I often feel insecure speaking the language with native speakers. I hope that this will quickly disappear: after all, I will need Spanish to navigate my life in Costa Rica! Language is an important gateway to understanding culture, so I hope that this immersion experience will give me a better grasp on Central American culture as well as improvement in Spanish.

Living in a country so different from my own will definitely be a challenge. However, I hope that I learn about myself as well as the culture I’m surrounded by. I aim to be easily adaptable and flexible. Despite all the uncertainty facing me, I am thrilled to explore a new part of the world, and I can’t wait to go!

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Post 1: Pre-Departure

As my departure for Madrid draws closer, I feel both excited and nervous. As a naturally more introverted person, I’m admittedly a bit apprehensive about jumping into an entirely unfamiliar situation all by myself. My only real experience abroad is from one family trip to Ireland five years ago, so I now find myself wondering about everything from currency exchanges to outlet adapters. 

However, I’m also very excited to immerse myself in a new culture and have the opportunity to try new activities, sample new foods, and meet new friends. I’m eager to take advantage of what I know will be a once in a lifetime experience. Though I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, where my schools were relatively diverse and many different cultural groups surrounded me, I’ve rarely ventured far beyond my comfort zone (and especially the country) to truly put myself in a situation where I am the cultural outsider, experiencing something completely unfamiliar. Despite my nerves, I am excited to not only pursue Spanish language fluency, but also experience the beauty, history, art, and lifestyle of Spain. 

I hope to come to a better awareness of the differences between my own culture and those I come in contact with and the ways they influence people’s beliefs, values, and customs. Though I often tend to focus more on the common principles that span across cultures, I think that appreciating intercultural differences with an open mind and positive attitude can be valuable in understanding both my own and others’ worldviews.

I hope to push myself to fully engage both with the local community and my international classmates, who will provide the opportunity to learn about other cultures in addition to the one I’ll be living in. I would like to grow my confidence and competence not only for international experiences, but also for any new and unfamiliar challenges and opportunities that might come my way. I am excited to embrace all that this experience has to offer and aim to enter it with an open mind for whatever it might bring, even the unexpected.