Leaving for Germany

A few months ago I was selected as one of the recipients of the Borchardt Award.  This program provides teachers from the Triangle area the opportunity to travel abroad with the GoGlobalNC organization and other teachers throughout the state to increase their global awareness to (hopefully) bring that experience back and share with their students and staff.    This year’s trip is to Germany and the day of departure has finally arrived!

A large part of why I applied to this program (other than the awesome opportunity to travel) is that I really believe it is more important than ever for people to be aware of the greater world that we are all a part of.  I want the students (and teachers) at my school to learn about and appreciate other cultures.  In the fight against intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, transphobia, etc those of us in the majority have to learn how to remove ourselves and our experiences from the center of the conversation and give way to the voices of those who have been historically marginalized.  Learning about and appreciating other cultures is one small step towards doing this.

I hope to bring back a small piece of Germany and share my trip with everyone at my school and beyond.  I’m really excited to document the trip here and on Twitter.  I can’t wait to visit German schools and learn about Germany’s incredible renewable energy program.  This truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I hope I am able to capture all of my learning and reflection here!

There are 28 teachers on this trip and in true teacher fashion, today has been spent matching names to faces.  Our first leg leaves from Newark to Berlin at 6pm.  Between the 8 hour flight and the 6 hour time change we arrive right at 8am Saturday.  Needless to say, I will be trying to sleep on the plane.

Auf Wiedersehen!