If you ask a student why they want to study abroad, one of the reasons they will inexplicably give is that they want to be exposed to new people and cultures, and to expand their borders geographically and socially.
While it would be great to be completely immersed in another country, to get lost within a completely different group of people, you don't necessarily have to leave America. In fact, becoming exposed to new cultures is completely possible within the borders of campus.
It is easy for us to forget sometimes, but UD has a plethora of international and ELI (English Language Institute) students from all over the world, and their reasons for coming to another country are similar to our own: to learn about another culture and meet the people who live in that culture.
It's unfortunate how common it is for students to want to stick only with those who speak the same language and look or behave the same way as they do. Surely, it is easier for us to do this, and it is much more within our comfort zones. We come to college wide-eyed and curious to explore more of what life has to offer us, but we also come with the same trepidation and anxiety that keeps us from learning more, knowing more, and being more. Eventually, the latter feelings take over, and there's a limit to what we are willing to explore.
But college is not just about widening our comfort zone, or taking a tiny dip in the lake that surrounds it before scrambling back to what we feel is safe. If there's any time or place when/where you could completely burst out of your bubble and run straight at the unknown, it is now, in college. This is what you (or your parents) are paying thousands of dollars a year for. This, and the free pens given out at orientation.
There are plenty of programs and events that can connect foreign students with native ones. International Coffee House is hosted at the Wright House every Friday, where you can eat pizza, drink coffee/tea, and meet students from Egypt, France, Turkey, and China. The American Host Program connects international and American students in pairs or groups; you could apply for a partner to practice a language you are learning or who is part of a culture you would like to know more about.
Meet them, greet them, get coffee with them, take them out to Main Street on a weekend night and explain how the raised alcohol age in the United States really does not work, and listen to them tell all the fun stories from their home countries before you tell yours.
No, it is not the same as traversing the streets of Spain or meeting actual locals in Ireland. Your selfies won't be as cool, and you probably won't be as fluent in the language.
However, it would be a shame to say you want to learn more about the world, but ignore all the people who have the potential to teach you new things. After all, welcoming visitors to your country could help you when you become the visitor in another country.
This November is UD's Global Month. Take the initiative and pop your cultural bubble.
