WHY STUDY ABROAD?
Living outside the USA can change you and change your life. No one can predict how. No one can predict what opportunities will be available because you know another culture.
I was the first of my family (not counting relatives by marriage) to complete college. But my interest in life abroad began years earlier. Aunt Rose (Grandma’s sister) married a Spanish-speaking biologist from Colorado, Uncle Horacio. In 1956, their family took in refugees from Hungary (Aunt Rose spoke Hungarian) and in 1960 they hosted Cubans who fled Fidel Castro. This early exposure to people from other nations stimulated my curiosity about other places.
I entered a Peace Corps program in 1968, a special program for math and science teachers. This was an extended program, so we were sent to visit potential host countries before the Peace Corps invested in our final 3 months of intensive training. I flew to Honduras with others of my group, but 4 days later was "alone" in Santa Barbara, a small country town, guest of one Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). I visited several other neighboring towns and 2 other PCVs, having more adventures in my 2-week visit than you should want to read about right now. The bottom line is, upon returning to complete the school year, I realized that living for 2 years in Honduras would change me, and that my fiancée would never know me (or understand me) if she stayed in the USA while I spent 2 years in Honduras.
So I called her long distance at 4 PM (day rates) and asked her to (a) join the Peace Corps and (b) marry me. So she did (Linda already had application papers). The PC staff contacted Washington for me and found the person who got Linda’s application into the right program. She went into training (Puerto Rica) the day I arrived in Honduras, she arrived there 3 months later, we got married (twice - once in the government offices, once in church) and still are. Linda is a Visiting Nurse, and the only two bilingual Spanish-English nurses in her agency are RPCVs.
One thing you learn as a gringo is what it is like to be the outsider, the odd person, someone who attracts attention as someone who doesn’t ‘belong’. Most Caucasian norteamericanos have insufficient experience in this to learn how to get over it and get on with business. I am still noticed when in Latin America (one campesino told me - in 1996 - that I look like Santa Claus - you be the judge) but I get on with business despite my being the one who is "different." I have also learned to trust and rely on people of another culture, to adapt to doing some things their way, at their convenience. This might frighten some people. Many syndicated columnists and members of Congress have not, in my opinion, taken this step I consider essential on the path to developing a mature personality.
Living a simple lifestyle abroad brings an improved understanding of what is really important. I took cold showers for 3 years (even after we were married - our house had no water heater), sometimes bathing out of a bucket when water service was interrupted. We lived almost 2 years without a refrigerator. This meant planning meals carefully. Cold beer and milk were for sale from 6 AM until 10 PM enfrente (across the street). We had no car and depended on public transportation or walking, just like all of our neighbors (2 young men on the block owned motorcycles). There were 2 television sets on the block, showing Mexican soap operas, dubbed versions of the worst TV programs from the USA (e.g.: Hogan’s Heros - one minute of Sargent Schultz speaking Spanish with a German accent was more than enough) and reruns of the World Cup soccer matches México ‘70. I did get hooked on newspapers and news over the radio.
After returning to the USA, it was months before I could drink from a faucet without thinking about it. The wealth of my graduate school was overwhelming (no one thought twice about purchasing batteries needed for apparatus).
One thing we have retained, I think, is a sensitivity to cultural differences that people of other cultures think are important. I did not learn all lessons perfectly - a graduate school friendship with a Black student did not develop as well as it might have, and that was my fault. He learned his multicultural skills as a Marine guard on U.S. Embassy duty - as well as having lived as a minority in the USA. I still make mistakes in dealing with other cultures but find most individuals helpful and supportive in those situations. They get to know me well enough to realize that I'm still learning.
Opportunities - an example: in early 1995, I got a telephone call from an engineer requesting information on doing geophysics in Honduras (the grapevine is indeed remarkable). When she told me of the project (Talgua, "Cave of the Glowing Skulls") I set out to "get a piece of the action." It worked. I went to Talgua twice, took 1 student the first time, 2 the second, and got to work with some really great people on discovering what no one knew. This is my passion - "To go where no one has gone before" - geophysics allows me to do that all of the time (but that is another story). I know how to operate as a professional in Latin America, what to expect, what to look out for, how to find what I need, how to have a good time doing it.
Speaking of geophysics: while in Honduras, Linda was called to Peru with other nurses following the May, 1970 earthquake. I got interested in earthquake prediction, thinking this would help prevent some of the deaths and injuries in future earthquakes. I answered an ad that a returned PCV studying at Stanford, Brian Dent, sent to The Greensheet, a Peace Corps "post-service opportunities" monthly. Probably because of my Peace Corps record (it certainly wasn’t my undergraduate GPA!!) I was accepted into Stanford University’s graduate program in Geophysics, where I met some of the most remarkable scientists - not only the faculty, but also visiting faculty and the U.S. Geological Survey. I rubbed elbows with (and learned from) men and women known around the world for their scientific achievements. Without my overseas experience, I would not have had the confidence to try Stanford (and probably would not have been accepted had I applied!), which would have meant a completely different career track - perhaps in geophysics, but with different projects and different collaborators.
No one can predict what will happen because you study abroad. My wildest dreams never approached what happened - and is still happening - to me. It takes work and flexibility, but I can’t imagine now how life might have been had I not lived in Honduras. I certainly would not be having this much fun.
Don Stierman - RPCV (Honduras,
1969-1972)
Ph.D., Geophysics, Stanford University, 1977