The document discusses the author's experiences traveling to various countries and cities around the world. Through their travels, the author gained knowledge and personal growth that expanded their worldview. Some of the key places visited included Culver Military Academy, Mexico City, New York City, San Francisco, Bruges, Madrid, Istanbul, Italy, Greece, Barcelona, Paris, and Nicaragua. The author believes traveling helped develop their character and made them aware of global issues while appreciating their own culture and home.

1. Flavia Maria Chamorro Corriols

2. I enjoy
traveling
Whether its by land, air or
sea, within a distance of 10km
or 10,000km, I take pleasure
in going to different places,
meeting different people and
experiencing different
cultures. I believe that
traveling has provided me
with knowledge, a sense of
awareness and personal
growth that no classroom ever
will. The following slides
depict my most recent travel
ventures and how these
contributed to my personal
and professional
development.
Countries that I have visited…

3. Culver Military
Academy
Culver, Indiana, USA
By spending an entire summer at Culver Military Academy, I was able
to develop self-discipline and resilience. I became a more effective
leader and communicator as I was responsible for organizing a
battalion of girls from different cultural backgrounds…

4. By attending the HACIA Democracy debate conference in Mexico City, I was not
only able to visit one of the world’s cultural hubs, but also partake in thought
provoking conversations with students from across the globe that share my niche of
interest in pressing issues concerning human rights. I was not only able to develop
innovative solutions, but raise and gain awareness on the challenges than
humanity still has to overcome.
HACIA DEMOCRACY
Mexico City, Mexico

5. New York City,
New York, USA
By visiting these two
great metropolitan cities
of the United States, I
was able to for the first
time, experience the fastpaced life of a highlyindustrialized society.
More importantly, I was
able to witness how
progress and
industrialization have an
unequal effect on the
population of two of the
richest cities in the world.
However, I was
exhilarated to experience
how numerous cultures
and a wide array of
people interact to bring
life to a single city they
all call home.
San Francisco,
California, USA

6. Bruges reminded me of a family value that tends to be
forgotten: the importance of tradition. By having
something simple, such as the waffle pictured above, I
was reminded of the importance of heritage and
customs on my own identity. The town was small yet
beautiful, and it taught me how those small things that
I often take for granted can be just as beautiful as
grandiose gestures.
Bruges, Belgium

7. By immersing myself in the Spanish
culture, I was able to appreciate the art
of conversation. I became aware of how
a simple conversation can be a great
carrier for information about an
individual and a culture. Professionally, I
learned that effective communication
skills can be pivotal in business
agreements. However, the Spanish also
taught me that a happy life involves
balancing business with leisure, and that
time spent with friends and family is
indispensable.
Madrid,
Spain

8. Izmir
and
Istanbul,
Turkey
Turkey introduced me to a culture
completely different from my own. It
reshaped my ideas of norms and
opened my eyes to world issues
that are much greater than myself.
Turkey has become a modern
society that still holds antiquated
attitudes towards gender equality.
Here, I became aware of how
privileged I have been.

9. Naples, Sorrento and Pompeii,
Italy
From these three towns I learned about human potential. I saw
how individuals were able to cultivate extraordinary skills in
craftsmanship and cuisine. These individuals taught me that while
modern technology can be an asset, it has to be complemented
with human capital.

10. Florence
Rome
Venice
Although about half of the world’s artistic treasures are held in these three cities, my
interactions with the people taught me more about humanity than any painting or
sculpture did. I witnessed the power in faith towards bringing people together towards
mutual understanding. This allowed me to experience spiritual growth and to become
more empathetic as I noticed that humans, no matter how different we can be from
each other, we are all on the same boat.
...…………………...Italy

11. Greece
Greece has a rich history of
empires and philosophers,
which have come to impact
how Greeks live their
present lives. From them I
learned that life is like a
spiral that keeps on going.
They taught me that it is
important to rise back from
one’s mistakes and failures
and continue looking
forward striving for
progress.

12. Barcelona,
Spain
Barcelona’s liberal atmosphere made me become more open-minded and willing to
accept and embrace change and new ideas. I became more receptive to views that
differed from my own and learned cosmopolitan ways of viewing controversial
topics.

13. Paris,
France
In Paris, I learned to value friendship. I learned that
friendships are hard to find but that true friends are
the strongest support system a person can have. Like
traveling, friends also introduce you to new ideas,
challenge your views, change your preconception,
and teach you to appreciate people that are different
from yourself.

14. As I began to explore the world, I realized that I knew
more about other countries and cultures than my
own. For the first time, I was able to see that I had
taken for granted the beauty of my own country
because I had the privilege to have it right in front of
me. The most recent trip I took was around Nicaragua
in order to get to know the people that I share my
country and culture with.

15. Nicaragua

16. Traveling has given me the opportunity to try new food, see
new sights, have new experiences, develop new ideas and
perspectives, and create new friendships. It has altered my
perspective on issues and has led me to see the world
differently. Additionally. traveling has helped me develop a
sense of identity and awareness of who I am in relation to the
rest of the world. It has shaped my character and made me
aware of the issues that people struggle with around the
world. It has made me a talker, a questioner, a person that is
not afraid to ask for help. It has molded me into an efficient
leader, yet a listener and a follower. Traveling has opened my
eyes to the world, and it has allowed me to see that the world
is very large and that there is more to see than the eye’s
capacity, that perception is not always reality; but that the
world is also very small and that in the end, we are all quite
similar.