What country have you always wanted to visit?
Renee: I have always wanted to visit Mongolia. During my first visit to Scotland as a student, I met woman in a youth hostel who was traveling around the world and she said the people in rural Mongolia were the friendliest people she had encountered. They really took her in as part of their family, sharing meals and stories despite limited means of communication.
The nomadic lifestyle surrounded by animals and beautiful landscapes seems like it would be a massive cultural and lifestyle change from my normal life, and that’s always a good thing to experience when traveling!
What was your favorite traveling experience?
Renee: When I was in high school, I spent the summer in France on an immersion program where I could only speak French, and this made me very nervous. On the first full day with my host family, I went for a walk with my host sister through the fields and along the coastline in Normandy. I saw the ocean for the first time in my life and learned how to say “cow patty” in French (very useful).
It had rained the night before, so when we returned home my host mother chided both of us with a twinkle in her eye about our shoes being wet (another new French word for me that I’ll never forget). It struck me as very funny that a woman I had just met, who lived around the world and spoke a foreign language, sounded just like my mom when she chided me.