When you’re travelling to different areas of the world you’ll be exposed to completely new cultures. It can be difficult to know what kind of effect this will have on you and your life. But there’s no need to fear because immersing yourself in other cultures is the best thing you can do for yourself. Here are 5 big reasons why immersing yourself in other cultures is good for you.
1. Gain global education
Many countries around the world face struggles and hardships that you’ll never have to deal with. It can be hard to see these struggles as a reality when it’s not in your day-to-day life. But you can learn about other countries’ struggles if you immerse yourself in their culture. People’s lifestyles and cultures mirror their history and current state of life. If you spend the time to learn about their culture, you’ll begin to understand their hardships.
It is very easy to forget about other areas of the world if you live in a first world country. But if you travel and dive into the country’s culture, you’ll see your worldview widening. It makes you realise how real the issues you’ve only heard on the news really are.
On top of bringing to light some of these issues, it’ll help break down stereotypes and misconceptions. When you’re face to face with another culture, everything you knew of the culture before fades away. You’ll view the culture as you experienced it instead of how you heard about it.
2. Learn a new language
Culture is heavily influenced by the language that is spoken within it. While you’re immersing yourself in a new culture, you’ll pick up aspects of a new language. You’ll learn common phrases and speech even if you don’t set out to learn the language.
Learning a new language can change your view on a culture because it gives you a deeper look into its history. It can show you what is important to a culture and display certain emotions differently than your native tongue. You’re also able to see what is most important in a certain culture. This will help you better understand the roots of a culture and its history. Learning another language even opens up the door for new people to come into your life. When you only know one language, you can really only know people that also speak that language. But when you learn more, the people you can communicate with increases drastically.
3. Meet new people
One of the greatest aspects of immersing yourself in a new culture is all of the new people you’ll meet. When you don’t waver from what’s comfortable you never meet anyone who’s different than yourself. If you travel and fully dive into a new place and culture, you’ll meet people that’ll change your life. They’ll teach you about aspects of life you’ve never experienced or thought of before. You’ll gain a new perspective on life because you’ll get to see it through somebody else’s eyes.
4. Appreciation for your culture
The knowledge you’ll gain from learning about other cultures will change your perspective on your own. There are many aspects of our own cultures that we don’t think about normally. The way we communicate, dress, eat and spend our free time are everyday activities. But even these small actions say a lot about someone’s culture. After you’ve immersed yourself in other cultures these, small aspects of your own culture will become more prominent to you. You’ll start to appreciate aspects of it that you may have taken for granted before. It also could push you to wait to celebrate your own culture more.
5. Create the best you
By far the most important reason to immerse yourself in other cultures is that it will create the best version of yourself. The more we experience in life and learn about the world, the closer we get to ourselves. When you travel you’re expanding your scope of the world, which gives you a better appreciation of it. You’ll have exposed yourself to new languages, people, culture and hardships. This exposure can only help make you a better you. The more you learn about the world, the more you learn about yourself. Immersing yourself in other cultures and worlds is the best way to find the best you.
Regardless of why you’re travelling or where you travelled to, the experiences you had and things you learned will stay with you forever. Immersing yourself in other cultures is hands down the best way to grow. You’ll be happy you dived right in once you return.
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Hannah Parker
Hannah is a writer for trekbible and dreams of being an investigative journalist, or maybe a world travelling videographer, or perhaps the next voice of NPR; basically Hannah wants to be a multimedia journalist. Her voice is too big for her small body so she likes to stand on tall surfaces and shout very, very loudly. Hannah has many passions (some including poetry and the occasional chicken nugget or two) but is always searching for her next hobby.
