Alex Nunes
Class of 2002

Dear Global Studies,

I have been teaching english in Spain for the past six months. I earned a minor in Global Peace and Security in 2002 and have looked to expand my knowledge of culture. Living in Madrid has been an experience to remember both tragic and pleasant. After the Madrid train bombings, the blame game was carefully used to immediately implicate ETA, which clearly was a jump to conclusion. Political gain maybe, but did the government try to do the right thing globally? After all terrorism goes through trends, and changing global politics may now be its goal through use of force.

Aside from terrorism in Spain, teaching and studying abroad, will strengthen ones sense of multicultural societies. Something you can't receive from a text book. From Madrid, where one can stand on a street corner and hear the dialects of spanish, chinese, turkish, german, and french, to London, essentially, the most multicultural city in Europe, likewise, reverberates a variety of lingo from all directions. Therefore, as a Global student get out of the States. Whether it is to Europe or anywhere else. And an easy way to discover other walks of life is to teach abroad, teach your own language, and travel.

Without a doubt this experience helped better my perception of others and helped change negative stereotypes about Americans. As it stands now, I plan to move back to the States and join a Masters program for Homeland Security. With the combination of GPS and global experience, I am definitely better fit now for grad school than I was just after college.

So a word from the wise, travel abroad, pick up a language, and respect others.

Alex Nunes
mralexnunes@hotmail.com

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