An Instrumental person in my life

Inspirations are always a learning process and thus many people are influenced by one another. In the book “Three cups of tea” Greg Mortenson set off in 1993 with a group to climb K2 which is the second largest mountain in the world. He never expected he would make it almost to the top. Even though he was not able to make it to the top, he didn’t get demoralized rather he took it as a learning process. He never expected two Balti men would help him off the mountain and welcome him to be a member of their village. He never expected to start 22 schools in Pakistan while spearheading an effort to educate girls as a result. Since his maiden voyage, Mortenson has spent nine years advocating girls’ education in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mortenson told the crowd that while recovering from the physical and emotional exhaustion of the climb, he visited a local school and was moved by the conditions he saw. Children were studying in the dirt, and the village couldn’t pay for teachers. Before long, they asked Mortenson to help them build a school. He was also instrumental in building a bridge and getting eye care and a clean drinking water system to the area. After returning to the United States, Mortenson began looking for potential sponsors to fund the project. But this was not the end of his journey; he spent a good deal of time helping the people in one way or the other. So him major influence has been the villagers that motivated him to do such a wonderful job.


Looking at my own experience in Global Beginnings, there has been someone who has been the most instrumental person guiding me throughout the process and that man is none other than my father. He has always been a key to my success. This is my first travel outside my home country and I have never travelled without my family. It is quite difficult for an international student to adjust with the cultural differences. So far, the first semester in France has been full of ups and downs. As we move towards the end of the semester, the screws are getting tighter and the courses are getting tougher. Apart from home sick, work overload, relation with different professors and the cultural differences that I am going through, I have been really stressed out. This has been the toughest times and I am still trying to hang on. I have always admired my father for his support in what I do. He has always motivated me when I struggle and hence push me further to excel whether in academics or life in general. My father calls me almost every day in order to make me feel that I am not alone. Generally, when I tell him about my assignments and workloads, he is always ready to help me and give advices. If I would say that a person who has really had a hand in my success is my father.

"Musee de Alsace" a musical experience

It has almost been two months that we have been staying in France and the experiences and broad base of knowledge we have are abundant. Personally, I have never been involved myself with so many diverse experiences each and every day. The majority of places we have visited have mostly been museums and monuments which in turn play a vital role not only in our course but life in general. Each day I question myself that how is this connected in our course and after experiencing it I find my answers and truly appreciate all the opportunities that comes. Talking about opportunities, this time I had another exciting experience of watching a live performance of classical music which was played with different ancient instruments. I have always been passionate about music and the more I listen, the more I get rejuvenated. Earlier the same day, we had visited the brewery factory and it was pretty tiring to have another program on the same day. But being a worshipper of music, I was completely pumped up to watch the show.

As I went inside the auditorium, I saw some instruments on the stage. To my knowledge I knew some of the instruments but the rest was totally a new for me. The crowd gathered in silence and the musicians positioned themselves to start the show. As I have taken guitar courses in my childhood days, I know exactly how much dedication and discipline you need in order to get the vive of the music. The chanting vocals and the sounds of the classical instruments made the whole music into a beautiful piece of metaphor. There was so much melody in their music that everyone was carried away. It was so peaceful and elegant that I felt like I have been enriched with the knowledge of various emotions. Whenever I experience something, I recall and gather my thought from the past. I could clearly remember my childhood days when I sat down with my guitar for hours in the room practicing guitar lessons. After hours of hard work and dedication I would finally come to know how to play those tunes. Now if I connect this with what I saw that night in the concert was the knowledge of light.

Music has a purpose and its main purpose is to capture the minds and soul of the listener and send messages and build up connections. As the show was getting more interesting, I was questioning myself what was the main theme of their music and I wondered sometimes. I felt that their music was based on a knowledge which were emotions pouring out from their hearts. Remembering the bad times I have gone through and most importantly being away from my parents, I was literally in tears as I was listening to their music. I think this is how music defines a soul.

The show was approaching towards the end and the feeling towards the music was more intense. As the musicians played their final piece, everyone in the crowed made their ears and eyes wide open as they knew that they wouldn’t get this opportunity to hear them again. The show ended with a fabulous piece of music and the musicians were appreciated with a blazing sound of clapping hands standing applause. Everyone in the crowed enjoyed their performance and I was literally trying to get a glimpse of their music on my camera and I did as well. The show was just reviving and I personally felt that I had a lot of memories to share with my families and friends.

Group Dinner at the Chateau

Since the day we have arrived in Paris, we got ourselves so busy with our exploration of museums and new places; we actually didn’t had much time to have a wonderful evening together with all the members in the group. It had been kind of hectic schedule yet a learning experience. Personally I believe that we went through a lot of moments that were ups and down but all in all it was worth having ourselves involving everywhere. We came to know about the cultures and the lifestyles of the French people. Combining the lectures of the French culture class with the exploration on the outside world is simply an amazing to experience. We have witnessed almost everything about the French culture so far which includes their lavish dinner, world class wines, and their lifestyles. After the day gets over we usually go to a nearby restaurant for our dinner. It has been quite a time where we haven’t had a group dinner together by cooking ourselves. We had planned cooking together since the orientation classes at Colby-Sawyer but due to the time management we were unable to do so. Finally the group decided that it was time to have a group dinner together with our Professor Bill Thomas. This was completely a new experience because we hadn’t done this before. I was assigned as the head chef for preparing the dinner and Echo on the other hand prepared some Chinese dishes for the whole group.

It was on the 11th of October that we finally realized that we should do something as a group and so all the group members were pumped up with organizing this dinner. The day earlier some of the members went to buy the groceries from the nearby supermarket from Germany. We started preparing the meal at 5 pm and everyone seemed quite helpful in contributing something to make the dinner successful. Some were busy cutting the vegetables, some were cutting the meat, some were washing the dishes, and others were arranging the decoration of the dining table. After three hours of hard work and patience, we finally prepared our meal for the evening. Apart from the Global Beginnings group with Professor Bill Thomas, there was Sven who was our coordinator and Kate who arrived a couple days back in order to write an article about the Global Beginnings tour. They were the guests for the evening. The meal consisted of Nepalese food which was blended with the Chinese cuisines as well. Professor Bill Thomas complimented the food with his few bottles of wine and so it was one of the interesting dinner we had so far.

Personally I believe that this was not just a dinner, it was a way to see whether the members were compatible with each other and how well they communicate as a group. So basically the whole dinner was a complete success and everyone appreciated the night.

So Far So Good!!!

Each day in Strasbourg has been an amazing experience. There are times when I feel frustrated because of the overload of work and there are moments to cherish as well. So far I have been having ups and downs with my life. The working days are usually frustrating as the assignments keeps on piling up. It is quite difficult to stay focused and try not to get stressed out. The worst part is that you don’t even have time to talk with your parents and let them know about our stay here. I have never travelled in any place and I have never stayed alone as my parents are always there to support me. Global Beginnings is completely different experience to me. It has surprised me in one way or the other. I have taken this as a process of learning new things and gaining a wide range of knowledge.

The best part of this learning experience has been the weekends. After consecutive days of intense work, research, presentations, writing, reading, we finally have time to spend our time the way we want. Forgetting about the work overload and the assignments, we take our time to explore the beautiful city of Strasbourg. We go for shopping most of the times. I am particularly conscious about my diet and so I often go to the market to get some healthy foods. This is the only time where I can think about nothing and relax the whole time. There is so much to learn in so less time and so much to grasp on our minds.

The classes have been so surprising and it has a lot to do with testing one’s ability. We had an assignment and that was completely different from the rest. The main focus of the assignment was to test each individual’s skills and abilities. We were assigned in pairs and our work was to explore the places without knowing any knowledge about it. We were given just the instructions where we had to follow it and find the places and deal with everything. It was definitely an awesome experience and a great way of learning the French culture. This is how we have been spending our time here in Strasbourg and so far everything is just fine.

Culture Shock!!!

It has almost been a month in France and the cultural differences that I have seen is just an amazing experience so far. I stayed in Paris for a couple of weeks and I did go through lots of cultural shock. I had always expected that Europeans were good in communicating with foreigners but I was shocked to see them silent and not willing to speak even a single word. Before I came to France, I stayed a couple of weeks in the United States of America and it was a different experience than what I have been experiencing so far. Americans do know how to communicate. Even if you’re walking down the street and you see a stranger passing by, they greet you with the most pleasant smile and a word “Hello”. I did expect the same with the French people but it is quite the opposite as they only feel secured within the circle of people they know. Till now I haven’t met any French greeting me while I am walking on the streets. Rather than being forward they are more preservative. This might be because they possess a different nature and their perception of thinking is different than what we have.
In my culture consumption of any form of alcohol in the daytime is strictly prohibited and one might get penalized if not followed the law. But in France I saw an opposite side of my culture. The people occupied every restaurant in Paris consuming different forms of alcohol. I noticed one of the best features of French people that made them stand among rest is that they don’t consume alcohol to get wasted rather just for the taste.
One of the other cultural differences I have gone through is that French people express their love wherever they want. I came across many couples kissing passionately everywhere. No wonder France is known as the “City of Love”. This is totally different from what I have learned from my culture. It’s difficult for the couples to roam around even if they were just holding hands. The society might take it as an immoral activity.
If I try to point out the cultural differences that I have gone through, then I would write a book out of it. No matter what you do or how you do it, it is all based on the customs that each country plays. Wherever I go I have always respected the fact that the people I meet have different perceptions towards me and I have a different perception towards them. All in all, cultures play a vital role in human’s lives and these are the ones which helps you to identify.