INTERNATIONALITY

I arrived here alone. I landed in a country more than 9.500 km far from mine.
Amazing: we were 40 young people in São Paulo coming from different countries all over the world and I had not met any of them before then. But we were colleagues. And, more than this, we were already friends. So, it does not occur to me another word apart from “amazing” to describe that incredible moment and the feeling it produced in me! We spent two intense days together full of emotions and expectations. It has been purely happiness!
Then I flew to Recife with my new team. But, isn’t a team made of people that know and trust each other? I did not know those girls at all, just met them the day before. So, what to do? Moreover, I was in a new city with a completely different culture (and language!). Well, we sat down (on the beach, of course: we are in Recife!) and started planning the first lesson: I mainly listened to what they had to say about the topic. I immediately noticed how different can be the perception of the same thing or concept depending on the person’s cultural background. I am not saying they were wrong, but it was kind of difficult considering the topic from another perspective I had never considered even for a minute. But this sensation disappeared very soon, because the differences in the points of view became then the most interesting thing of the planning meetings. I really started enjoying discussing and seeing in how many different ways a topic can be analyzed. And I completely love when from that we start talking about our countries, differences, cultures, foods, habits… And even more I love getting astonished, curious and with a big desire of travelling!
Now, after two months, I still find differences in our way of considering things. But I think this the factor that contributes in creating a great job and produces great results in classrooms. And I look at my team now and I see more: I see really good friends collaborating towards the same objective. I’m happy and satisfied!
Elisa from AIESEC Venezia, Italy
EduAction @Recife