What does Global Engagement Mean to Me?
Henry Leighton Wesleyan University Class of 2025
What does Global Engagement Mean to Me?
Henry Leighton Wesleyan University Class of 2025
This category includes written pieces and posts where I reflect on aspects of my journey through the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Taiwan and Spark programs learning Mandarin, in addition to intercultural experiences that took place while studying abroad in Tainan.
This is an assignment that I completed through a Global Coursework class for the region of Latin America: SPAN288: Territories of Dwelling, Desire, and Resistance in Latin America. Students were instructed to annotate a quote from a book by José María Arguedas called Los Ríos Profundos. We were expected to integrate Andean Indigenous conceptualizations of …
As I rode in a cable car in Taipei’s Maokong Gondola route, watching treetops pass by through the glass bottom, my friends decided that we should go around and each say “our type” of person that we find attractive. We ended up talking about dating in high school, touching on a notable cultural difference between …
I hesitated to write about this topic, because I did not want it to be misconstrued or generalized to reflect poorly on Taiwanese culture, or otherwise be understood as anything other than the isolated incident that I perceived it to be. I didn’t encounter anyone in Taiwan who shared the views of my first host …
I was very grateful for the opportunity to study in Taiwan, and the amazing experiences and relationships that I built there. However, I did experience some discomfort surrounding my affiliation with the American State Department through the Critical Language Scholarship program. We were often told that our conduct reflected back on our nation and its …
After having the privilege of studying abroad twice, I’ve come to understand that intercultural learning is a cyclical process. What I learned in Cuba allowed me to better articulate my experience there, but studying a different language and living in a different culture in Taiwan meant that I was frustrated at times by my lack …
