Monday, April 26, 2010

bonjour!!!! - By Stephanie Pratt, CE Adviser in France

Hi everyone! Let me begin by introducing myself, my name is Stephanie. I'm 20 years old and I'm a current student at Fullerton College, which is in Fullerton, California. (Orange County) I've lived here for basically my whole life and I love it here! I have a great journey ahead of me. I'm going to Au Pair in France for a year and I've been accepted as the Au Pair in Europe Advisor Abroad. I'm here to share my experiences with you!

I really enjoy traveling!!! So far I've been to some other states, like Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington D.C. I've been to Mexico for a day. But the best travel experience I've had hands down was when I went to England and France April 2007. My history teacher set up a trip through EF tours, and some of my friends, classmates and my teacher went on a 10 day tour. That trip inspired me to travel, to see and to experience new places. After France, when I come back from Au Pairing, I want to road trip across America-- from the west coast to the east coast.

My history teacher, Mr. Muhovich definitely inspired me to travel. He stressed how traveling rounds out a person. He taught me that there is more to see and more to experience than whats in your own backyard. My desire to explore is closely connected to the Cultural Embrace mission: discover differences and share similarities. I want to do just that, I want to see how different and wonderful the world is. Traveling decays the animosity in the world by shedding light on different people and different cultures. I believe with experience comes wisdom, as Mark Twain said it, "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and the narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's life time."

This is just the beginning of a great adventure ahead!

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