Our first victim

Tiara Weiner

February 2, 2010

We met up with our first study abroad interviewee. Tiara Weiner, 20, is a sophomore at OSU with a major in Business and a minor in Spanish.

Joce: Where did you go, when and for how long?

Tiara: I went to Chillan, Chile for three months starting September 9th all the way through December 4th. While in South America, my group took trips to Peru and Argentina as well as traveled all over the country of Chile. I studied Spanish while I was there and went through the Oregon State study abroad program.

Joce: Where had you been outside of the United States before your trip to Chile?

Tiara: I had taken various trips for church missions that lasted only a few days to Tijuana, Mexico. I had also traveled to Greece for a two-week vacation and I had been to Victoria B.C.

Joce: So nothing for a long period of time?

Tiara: Nope, before Chile I had only been out of the country for two weeks at once.

Joce: When people ask you how you were effected by the trip, what do you tell them?

Tiara: The first thing that comes to mind is that my trip started a hunger for traveling more- as much as I can. It's like there's now a thirst for traveling that I will never quench. Experiencing a new culture was so refreshing and coming back to the states afterward seemed so dull. I just wanted to learn about other cultures and their ways of life. When I returned home, American culture seemed somewhat unoriginal to me because Chileans have so many traditions and they're so proud of who they are.

Joce: In what ways would you say you've grown on a personal and global level as a result of your travels?

Tiara: I matured culturally and learned to accept a culture for what it is instead of having pre-conceived notions of how things should be and how a life should be lived. On the global level, being there made me wish I didn't have the "American" shadow following me around to every country I visited. The world seems to have this idea of what Americans are, and I didn't like that part at all!