While I prepared for my time abroad in Rwanda, I am feeling a lot of excitement and nervousness during the preparation process. I have been eager to travel abroad, learn about different cultures and people who differ from me, and learn from others who have different experiences and lifestyles than I do. Since I will soon be a teacher in America, this experience will be very important for me, which will ultimately make me a better teacher and person.

As a teacher it is important to be flexible and tolerant and my time abroad will force me to form new skills and abilities to be a team player, ask questions and create positive relationships with other teachers who may have different education views and experiences. I was nervous for a couple days about not knowing much about the schools here I will be teaching in, but eventually that nervousness turned into excitement of the unknown and allowing myself to be adaptable and see where this experience will take me. A specific quote I love and told myself to relieve nervousness is, “the only way to feel comfortable is to feel uncomfortable,” which is why this trip would help me grow as a future teacher and become comfortable teaching abroad which I hope to eventually do once I graduate.

My expectations for my education abroad experience is to grow as a person and see different perspectives of the world, grow and learn as a future educator, and have a better understanding of the world and experience places and people that are new and different than what I have yet experienced in my life. I hope to learn, grow and challenge myself by putting myself out of my comfort zone and taking what I learn from the education in the Rwanda schools with me in my future teaching. I am excited to form relationships while I am here and learn from the people and students I will be with during my time here. I am hoping this experience will allow me to become more culturally aware, will help me better understand people who grew up differently than me, and also will help me better understand who I am as a person and how I can use this experience to have a positive influence on who I become in the future.

Another expectation I have for myself during my travel abroad experience is to form a stronger confidence in myself as a teacher. During my time here I will learn about different learning styles, students from different countries and a different education system that I have been used to, which I am so thankful and excited to learn about and become part of the classrooms here in Rwanda. It will be amazing as well as a challenge. This challenge will push me to become the better teacher I can be for my future students and at the same time will also teach me more about the world, about Rwandan culture and learn to have a better understanding of the world and people who differ from my experiences.

Aside from becoming the best teacher I can be, I hope to become a better version of myself during my experience and learn more about myself as I am forming connections with my students and people I meet throughout my time here. My overall expectations while being abroad in Rwanda are to become more culturally aware, build more patience with myself and others, form relationships where both sides are able to learn, grow and benefit from each others.