{"id":673,"date":"2014-03-17T11:53:43","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T11:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning201314\/?p=673"},"modified":"2014-03-17T11:53:43","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T11:53:43","slug":"wentzel-14-fascinated-by-wally-immersion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/2014\/03\/17\/wentzel-14-fascinated-by-wally-immersion\/","title":{"rendered":"Wentzel ’14 Fascinated by Wally Immersion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Wentzel ’14<\/em> – I\u2019ve been trying to pinpoint one specific theme that makes the Wabash immersion experience so great and unique from a social perspective.\u00a0 Having gone on a previous immersion trip to Europe, I believe it\u2019s possible to articulate a specific \u201cslice of life\u201d that is specific to a group of Wabash men overseas.<\/p>\n

It should come at no surprise that a Wabash immersion experience, in many cases, is the first opportunity for a Wabash student to travel outside of the United States.\u00a0 It should also come as no surprise that, for many, there is an immediate visible exposure to the new culture.\u00a0 Some students can blend in better than others.\u00a0 However, what I\u2019ve noticed that inevitably comes from this process of cultural adjustment, is that the Wabash man manifests himself in a different way, with a guiding spirit that comes from the college mission statement.\u00a0 To put it more concisely, you can spot a Wabash man wherever you go in the world, but that same Wabash man might not have to be perceived as a stereotypical American.<\/p>\n

It comes as no surprise that taking risks is part of the Wabash education, as well as the ethos of many students.\u00a0 In Paris, I have observed a healthy amount of risk taking that transcended cultural barriers.\u00a0 Some risks were in the purview of an American outlook, but more commonly, there were risks taken for the sake of humanity \u2013 risks that truly embodied the mission of Wabash College, in a different nation.<\/p>\n

Maybe it was the times when students would, out of sheer curiosity and friendliness, talk to strangers on the Paris Metro.\u00a0 The Metro is traditionally silent, but for some strange reason, a group of Americans livened the atmosphere in a tasteful way at various points.\u00a0 Or, maybe it was the time when a student gave up his seat for a couple to sit with each other on another form of public transportation.\u00a0 Generally, the couple would have had to split up to find separate seats.\u00a0 Or, maybe it was the time when I was walking with another group of students in the evening when one decided to strike up a conversation with a gentleman walking his dog.\u00a0 Generally the gentlemen would have not been approached by an American on his evening walk, but the small risk on the part of the Wabash man led to a brief encounter of positive conversation.<\/p>\n

These impulses are very specific to a group of Wabash students who find themselves immersed in places they don\u2019t understand completely.\u00a0 Yet, when our power of lingual and cultural certainty are diminished, small risks that enhance humanity sort of filter through.\u00a0 This is another example, to me, of \u201cspreading the fame of her honored name\u201d in a culturally sensitive way, that comes only through immersion learning through Wabash College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Wentzel ’14 – I\u2019ve been trying to pinpoint one specific theme that makes the Wabash immersion experience so great and unique from a social perspective.\u00a0 Having gone on a previous immersion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":675,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions\/675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}