I have always believed that learning happens best when we are engaged with the people and places that are the focus of investigation. That is maybe a fancy way of saying, “go there, talk to people, see what it is like.” Years ago, as an undergraduate, after who knows how much studying of the civil rights movement in the United States, I decided to get on my bicycle and ride through the Deep South. I retraced the Freedom Rides by bicycle, camping behind churches at night and spending my days passing through small towns and riding through the fields that make up places like Alabama and Mississippi. It was a life changing learning experience. When I went back to reading about events in places like Birmingham, I had a reference. I had lunch in the Birmingham bus station and this ‘history’ was now part of my story. The people who welcomed me, many of whom lived through the events I was studying in school, touched me. It made the learning relevant. My investment more meaningful. And, it was fun. 

That is, I suppose, at least to some degree, why we have decided to pull our girls out of school, pack our lives in 55 liter packs, and head off into the world. We are hoping that we will all come home with a better feel for the world and our place in it. How better to be global citizens that to go global?