Ripple Effects 3.2: Exchanging Ideas for Disability Rights
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In and Out of the Japanese Classroom
Smiles spread on the Japanese storekeepers' faces as Jonathon, an obvious foreigner, asks them a question in their language. Jonathon, a University of Iowa graduate student who is spending a semester abroad, loves this interaction with the locals, both for absorbing the culture and practicing his Japanese language skills.
Memories from Mongolia
Awake early, Melissa Jensen walked out of the circular yurt into Mongolia’s vast rural lands. “I’m from Wisconsin, so I’m used to cows. But I’m not used to brushing my teeth at an outside sink with primitive plumbing and being surrounded by cows,” says Melissa, who at the time was a college student from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. “That big culture change is what I love.” Melissa was volunteering to help rebuild a destroyed Buddhist temple in Mongolia, just three years after her second head injury near the end of high school.
Beyond Expectations
MIUSA: What was your experience living in the host country?
Tony: This was the first time I traveled on an educational exchange that wasn't disability-related. I wondered whether my learning differences would present a problem in the classes at Yonsei University.
I learn best by seeing and experiencing, and discovered that I was able to comprehend a huge amount at the lectures and on the cultural tours.