When I first searched for high schools to apply for I was always looking for the one where I could truly interact with the world outside of Norway. That’s one of the many reasons why I was thrilled to hear of our upcoming visits with people from other countries, like refugee Kawthar Sheheda from Syria and multiple teachers from the US.
Due to the fact that I go international, I got to travel to spain outside of our english class and meet native spanish speakers from local areas like Malaga and Montellano. This experience was not only fun, but truly thought provoking in how everything in our lives could completely change only by flying for a couple hours. The weather, the language, the culture, the food and even how people acted around others was extremely interesing to see and learn about. Not only that, but I definently improved my spanish speaking skills along the way.
The reason I whole-heartedly believe that interactions with people outside of Norway is so terribly important is because of the fact that your life can change vastly depending on the country or region you find yourself in. It’s extremely important that we acknowledge and learn about outside traditions and cultures so that we can not only expand our own culture, but also accept the differences between humans as a whole.
A special case when we talked with the refugee from Syria was how interesting it was to see someone go from a victim of war and grief to a life of education. The fact that she’s here today speaking with our class tells us how strong humans are, and opens up for our chance to learn about the tragic stories around us.
Because of these reasons listed above, I belive that inviting people from all over the world is not only extremely important for our knowledge of other parts of the world; but also important in a way where we can keep countries interactive with one another.
The knowledge and experience we gain from these interactions are also relevant to almost every part of our daily life; wether it be a pop quiz about foreign countries, or a friend asking you a question. We have also seen that the countries whom interact and make peace the most, like Scandinavia and most of Europe, always end up being some of the happiest countries. This is in contrast to countries with a society of little to no knowledge like North-korea, Syria and China.
All in all, I think it’s great that we use time to speak with people from outside our own country. We gain knowledge that we can bring to work, school or maybe even learn something that causes us to go learn even more; thus expanding our knowledge again. It’s reasons like that I’ll always be forever grateful for choosing international class.