What position do you hold at Rustic Pathways? What has been your career path so far?
I currently work as the India Country Director. Before this position, I had already spent five years in India. I started as a program leader on gap year programs with Global Learning Across Borders. I did four semester programs with Global-LAB, and then went on to multiple summer programs with other organizations - Global Routes and the School for Field Studies. I also co-created and lead a J-term study abroad program with a professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Did YOU study abroad?! If so, where and what inspired you to go?
Yes! I studied abroad twice when I was in university. After high school, I went to university because "that's what you're supposed to do." I had no idea who I was, what I wanted to study, or really what I was even interested in. After a year and a half at school, I had transitioned from engineering to landscape architecture and felt completely lost. I decided to study abroad in Fiji and it completely changed my life. I returned form a semester in Fiji full of live and excitement. I transformed that into a major in human geography and was so excited about my experience in Fiji that I studied abroad again, this time in India. Since my semester in India, I haven't left.
Why is language learning and cultural immersion important to you?
The most important thing your learn in life is who you are. Who are you as a person? What are your passions? How do you want to live? Most likely, these things will not be discovered in a classroom - they will be discovered in the world. Cultural immersion is a window into the world. To learn deeply about other people is to learn deeply about yourself. Experiences like these that take you outside of your comfort zone open up a whole new way of being as a person. Language learning only deepens this process! When you can get into heated arguments with rickshaw wallas on the streets of Delhi, you can engage with a culture. Until you are able to talk with people in their language, you will only be scratching the surface of the discoveries that are possible.
What was your favorite traveling experience?
My most recent favorite experience was discovering the peninsula of Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu. Crystal blue waters, coconuts, filter coffee, and fresh fish curry! The peninsula is one of the holiest places in India due to an event in the Ramayana - one of the Indian epics. Ram came to Rameshwaram on the way to rescue his wife in Sri Lanka. Finding the way blocked by water, he wrote his name on stones and threw them into the sea. The stones floated and created a land bridge that took him all the way to Sri Lanka, 30km away. It's also one of the best kiteboarding locations in India!