Exciting CultureTrav Announcement
Shaping Cultural Experiences
Travel has been an integral part of my life since I was a young child. I grew up in a multicultural, bilingual home in the Netherlands with a Polish mother and a Dutch father. My
Update & BBC News Link
A brief update: One interview video will be uploaded tomorrow evening. I believe the BBC News One-Minute World News provides well-balanced reporting of news, hence why I wanted to share it. Top stories on May
From Nigeria to Boston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VNkCazT_T4&feature=youtu.be
When you first meet Oluwagbeminiyi Osidipe, you encounter a very vibrant, friendly, and unique personality. Oluwagbeminiyi or Niyi – as she shortened her name for simplicity – was named by her mother, who had a “very personal experience” when she had her, Niyi explained. Niyi is a Yoruba Nigerian transplant who arrived in the U.S. in 2006. As one of the most densely populated (West) African countries, Nigeria derives its name from the river that spans its land. To the South, it borders the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean. Originally colonized by the British, Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Its main ethnic groups are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, who speak English and their own respective languages, while major religions include Islam, Christianity and indigenous beliefs. Niyi shares her story, her views on politics, cultural differences she’s embraced with humor, and what we can learn from each other by expressing curiosity. Her message is simple: travel enriches us through its exposure to new cultures, and enables us to grow.
Mark Twain on Travel
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and 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 lifetime.” (American author Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad).
Have you had the opportunity to travel (extensively, within your country, or even once abroad)? Can you relate to Twain’s sentiments? How does travel enrich us?
Pleasing The Taste Palate
Food has the wonderful quality of uniting us no matter where we are. There is nothing partisan or narrow-minded about food. It simply invites us to indulge, create recipes, and share with others. Two of my favorite Polish dishes (included in collage) are pierogies and barszcz czerwony – a beetroot soup – served on Christmas Eve in Poland. How does food bring us together? What are some of your favorite dishes and why? Can food trigger memories?
Stereotypes: Truth or Fiction?
DEFINING STEREOTYPES: “An idea or statement about all of the members of a group or all the instances of a situation.” (Merriam-Webster). Stereotypes enable bias and preconceived notions to perpetuate, but can also reveal valid
Annual Human Rights Report
“The world changed immeasurably over the course of 2011. Across the Middle East, North Africa, and far beyond, citizens stood up to demand respect for human dignity, more promising economic opportunities, greater political liberties, and
Euro Crisis & Emerging Stereotypes
Brief Crisis Breakdown Since the onset of the global financial crisis, or Great Recession, in 2007, the Eurozone has feared impending growing global debt levels, as well as sovereign debt within European countries themselves. In
Remembering Tiananmen
Today marks the 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing, China. Inflation, a lack of career prospects, the fall of Eastern European communism, and political corruption, are all said to have fueled anger
Coffee's Uniting Power
A cup of coffee can bridge cultural gaps. At least, that’s what Gizem Salgicil White, founder of Turkayfe.org, believes. Her organization aims to create awareness of Turkish culture, particularly within America. Gizem is a Turkish native,
#CultureTrav, originally called #CultureTravChat, started in November 2014 with the intent to hear from travelers, while focusing on their experiences with different cultures. I’ve always been interested in talking to travelers about how they deal with cultural differences, develop new friendships abroad, learn about a country’s social norms, overcome language barriers, and more. I love everything about the intersection of culture and travel.
The goal of the chat is to dig deeper and get people to relive the emotions they felt when experiencing a new country, and to share memories of their travels, whether gaining a better understanding of a foreign culture, traveling with family, friends, or loved ones, or simply remembering the food, architecture, cultural traditions, and other important aspects of cultural immersion during travel.
CultureTrav announcement: Clare from Immersion Travel Joins as Co-Host
Over the past two years, it’s been wonderful to hear from so many of you who travel – whether you’re perpetually on the road, traveling every few months, or simply going whenever you can balancing work and other circumstances that might not always allow it. Thank you to all who have joined during work, while traveling, and late at night to tell stories and offer advice to others. We have learned a lot about travel all over the world and cannot wait to plan our next few trips with your advice in mind!
Jessica (@Jlipowski) and I cannot express enough how grateful we are to the people who contribute stories and share their advice with #CultureTrav each and every week – and beyond. One of these special contributors is Clare Hancock of Immersion Travel Magazine, and Jessica and I are excited to announce that she will be joining #CultureTrav as a regular co-host.
Raised among cacti and cowboys in Arizona, Clare Hancock has always had an appetite for adventure. By the time she was a sophomore in college, she had her sites set on becoming a travel writer. However, after earning a master’s degree in journalism, she realized that travel writing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and she decided she was going to change that. Her vision was to create a magazine that not only featured ethical and responsible destinations, but also took care of its contributors. No more trading compensations for positive reviews. No more traveling on an insufficient budget. No more shady deals with bloated companies. Just pure travel, the good, the bad, the breathtaking, and even the not-so-glamorous. That is what Clare lives for. Clare has traveled across the United States, Thailand, Costa Rica and Belize. She has also spent time kayaking with wild dolphins, hacking through rain forests for gibbon release projects, dancing with locals in Kenya, climbing mountains in Hawaii and much more. Her wishlist is constantly growing and she can’t wait to continue learning from world travelers.
This week on #CultureTrav, we are chatting “Empathy.” Stay tuned for the questions!
Hi! I'm the founder of Culture With Travel and #CultureTrav. Please chat with us on social media and contribute in the comments! Follow @Nicolette_O
