10 reasons why you should move abroad: Jess Erickson at TEDxYouth@Berlin 2014
a man or woman who represents his/her home country abroad is known as a __________. This is a topic that many people are looking for. chibariku.com is a channel providing useful information about learning, life, digital marketing and online courses …. it will help you have an overview and solid multi-faceted knowledge . Today, chibariku.com would like to introduce to you 10 reasons why you should move abroad: Jess Erickson at TEDxYouth@Berlin 2014. Following along are instructions in the video below:
Everyone. Its wonderful to be here today and to actually meet some of the the youth of berlin. Its a very rare opportunity.
So thank you very much inviting me. So why did i decide to live abroad. As you can see by the picture here i come from a norwegian and korean background and i often call myself crow agen now im not even joking when i applied for college.
I actually wrote check other im corps weejun and i think you know when i look at my history and my parents history and i just realized that my ancestors are mongolian theyre vikings. Their adventures theyre entrepreneurs theyre nomadic it kind of made sense given my cultural makeup. That i would have this curiosity to travel and explore the world so where did i move to until the age of eighteen.
I grew up in minnesota. How many of you here have heard of minnesota. Okay a little more popular than i thought i grew up in the midwest.
Right at the border of canada. I had a lovely upbringing and you know. It was just a really great experience living and growing up in minnesota.
However i decided you know what i think im gonna have to move to a different state. When i go to college. The arrows are not correct.
But next up was wisconsin wisconsin was about four hours away from where i lived and it was a big jump for me. I was really scared. I thought oh.
Ive always lived in this place in minneapolis can i do this and so i went for it it was only four hours away. But i pursued a degree at the madison university and then all of a sudden it clicked my final year in college. I thought to myself well i never bothered to learn korean or norwegian.
So i started enrolling in korean language classes. My final years and then i said you know what now that i have some basics in this language. Why not move to korea and explore my mother came from so despite the fact that my mom did not want me to leave.
I got on a plane. And said look im moving to korea. Im going to study from one semester.
I caught the travel bug. I decided to study for two semesters and then two semesters turned into i want to live in korea after i graduate and i skipped my entire graduation in america and i just stayed in korea and finally i decided to join an ngo where i would then work with north korean refugee children who had escaped and made it to south korea. It was an amazing experience and it grew a lot from that but my time and year kind of came to a close and i said look what do i want to do next.
I had this travel bug. I wanted to keep exploring different parts of the world. So.
I said. You know what im going to pursue a masters degree in europe started touring europe just got on a plane traveled around sat in lectures. Snuck into universities started taking notes and i fell in love with the london school of economics.
So i did a 13 month degree there and then right after i finished my degree they kicked me out as my student visa was out and i said okay i do kind of miss the states now so how about new york city. Everyone wants to move to new york city hopped on a plane didnt know anyone or anything. And i quickly decided to network meet people and eventually landed a job working for both a music label that was large and a small one but then after my my time working the music industry.
I felt frustrated i felt like i wasnt moving and i said to myself okay im tired. Its time for a new challenge and thats when i joined my first tech startup company in manhattan. It was mind blowing ly awesome to work in a five percent team and build a translation platform that supported thousands of people around the world.
I was just excited. I was an instant connection and i fell in love with the idea of technology. And what it could do for people and the in bands meant of of translation and communication and so as i always am.
I got itchy and i wanted to go and travel again i ended up moving to berlin three years ago and of course. I decided why not continue to work in tech. There is a burgeoning tech startup scene in here in berlin.
So i quickly fell in love. And and moved here. And made a life of my own.
But i would like to explain now all of the wonderful reasons. What have kind of come out of this experience of living abroad. And i think the first one is discovering a new culture.
How many of you here have lived abroad or living abroad right now okay. So this is this im preaching it to the choir. You guys are all a part of this when i showed up to korea.
I was just so excited about discovering the unknown. Even though. I had korean heritage showing up to korea was just a totally novel experience for me.
When i got off that bus right in front of my university. I remember it being really loud and exciting and intense the smells were different the sounds were different and i was thinking to myself. Wow i just came from a city of 250000.
Inhabitants and now im in a city of 10 million. It was life changing that moment was so defining for me as i looked around i found that i was constantly meeting new people trying new food that my mother never had exposed me to watching new films listening to new music. And it the whole immersion process completely changed the way.
I looked at the world. It was my initial spark so number two how many of you here. In this room.
Speak a second or third language. Okay quite a few. Im embarrassed to say that even though ive lived in berlin for a few years.
I havent quite picked up german as id like to i blame it on the 70 hour work weeks and the fact that most germans are fluent in english. But its not to say that when i moved to east asia. I realized i have to learn korean not as many people were speaking fluent in english.
And it was a mode of survival had to learn it quick and after id studied for a year. I got to a point where i was pretty comfortable with it i was having good conversational skills. And ill never forget the day.
I called up my mother. And you know out of the blue and i just said in full sentence. You know i love you and this is what im doing and this is what im experiencing in seoul and i had done it in perfect korean.
I could hear her crying over the phone. It was just like a an extreme emotional experience for her to hear her daughter who she never spoke or taught korean to to actually have that connection and i feel like it almost strengthened our bond and its something thats irreplaceable that moment. So i what i encourage is that you always try to learn as many languages as you can they say that you kind of experience.
A new soul and a new awakening when you learn a new language. Number three developing skills outside of a classroom setting so as i said before when i first showed up to berlin. I probably knew one person and now i feel like i know half.
The city and it took a lot of time and networking and hustle. But if i hadnt had those experiences in london and in seoul. South korea.
I might not have been where i am today in berlin and so what im saying is when you put yourself out. There. You decide to hop on a plane and travel somewhere new youre going to be learning.
A fully independent way of living. You dont have your mom or your dad or your friends to reach out to in those challenging times. Theyre not there so youre going to learn how to be independent and make things work on your own and i think that can be a truly empowering experience and thats not something you can learn sitting in your classroom number four.
I think its a huge boost for your cv or your resume. Whatever one you want to call it i think there are skill sets that your future employers are looking for are you an effective commune kader can you really give knowledge on a culture and have a new language can you bring that to the table all right these are things that are super important and i think given the fact that were living in a globalized world. Its important that you have those skill sets so even just a semester.
Studying abroad can make a huge difference and a huge boost on your cv. I also think you learn an incredible amount of information about yourself when you show up to a new city and you know zero people you start to listen to your own thoughts in your head right. Theres less distraction.
Youre. Its just you in a whole new world. Where you might not even understand the language at first.
But youre at one with your thoughts. And i think this is what really starts to challenge you you know your limits you know how to maneuver. You know you realize youre capable of doing things that you never knew you could.
And i think thats the beauty of it all and i encourage you that when you do go abroad you take a trip by yourself. Its tempting to want to go with your friends and then crash at a hostel and go to a party together. But i encourage you to just go explore one city hop on a train and do it completely alone bring your ipod to give you some company.
But you will be so surprised after that experience youre going to have to navigate everything on your own. Which is a good skill to have right you have dont even try to use google maps just try to go with a map explore meet new people break out of your comfort zone and talk to everyone thats around you. And you are going to realize.
What you have internally inside are you an open person are you afraid of certain things. Its going to push you to the limits and also i think it changes your perspective on where youre from now when i first moved to korea. And you know i was worried will i get an a on my exam will i do this right will i do that there were all first world problems they were always stressing me out until.
I joined that ngo and i started to listen about the stories of young children refugees who had scaped north korea now that was a rude awakening. I realized that a lot of the problems. I had been facing were trivial and unimportant and in the grand scheme of things.
I was pretty well off and i had a lot of great things going for me. And i didnt need to stress about the little stuff anymore so i really believe that when you go abroad. It completely changes your perspective the depth of what things are important and what are not so i really think thats probably one of my important choices of why you should explore number 7.
I really believe that you have a different sense and appreciation for diversity. I mean you know like i said i grew up in minnesota. Most people were white.
There were a few asian people and i thought oh i always stood out and i was a bit different looking than other people in my high school. Which was okay. But i knew at that point.
I knew i was different and the whole process of moving to all these different parts of the world. Made me feel more like a global citizen and it made me realize that there are so many beautiful people in the world coming from different religions. Different ethnic backgrounds different age groups.
And i wanted to soak it in and it has such a deep impact on my life that ive now quit. My day job to build my own organization to bring in diversity into the technology industry because this is an industry. I know that is the future and i want to be a part of and i want to make a dent.
But it all kind of looks the same so now im working on building. He gets which introduces technology engineering design. Founding practices to a whole new generation of women and i see some of you in here today.
And i cant wait to see what happens a lot of people told. Me look youre crazy. Why are you wasting your time.
It is what it is well if you have a kind of belief. Then nothing is ever going to change. So for me.
Diversity is down to the very core of my passion and the essence of what i do every day. If something is looking the same i want to change it i want to mix it up because it makes life more interesting. I also think living abroad.
Studying abroad makes you a better creative problem solver. How many of you have like worked your way out of a difficult issue a problem while living abroad. Right yeah you get kind of an adrenaline feel when you figure something out.
And i think. This is such an important skill set to have as an individual creative thinking realizing there are different ways to approach problems. You know if youre in the same place.
All the same time you kind of on a one track mind and you dont think of other possible alternatives. I was shocked when i first came to berlin to see that in all the public places you have individual containers for recycling. And i want to go back to the state someday and try to get all the cities to do the same its a different approach.
Its little things that youre learning as you go along. But i think its important to note that this is something you can learn even if you dont go abroad. But the going abroad part really enhances it and it takes it to the next level.
Its a good skill set to have becoming a future global leader. I think we have some here today in the front row here. I think when you go abroad you should ask yourself a few questions jess.
What do you want to do with your life. What are you contributing to life just how do you want to see the world what do you want to see change. And jess do you want to become a leader.
And what is it going to take to get to that point where you can actually lead and create change. These are the questions. I think you should always ask before you move to that next city and if you wake up and you realize how interconnected.
We are and how much we can do to support and help each other and build a new way of thinking. Its going to be extremely powerful and going abroad is that first step that is the first big step to potentially becoming the next global leader you got to do that and once you make that build something make something important doesnt matter if its in your hometown or if its somewhere in china do something that youre passionate about and dont be afraid to get on that plane and lastly. I just wanted to close this by saying.
Its been a truly life changing experience for me a lot of my closest friends from childhood are still back in minnesota and they love their lives and theyre doing great and its all stable. But i realized some of them think im totally crazy for spending. The last years of my life just traveling and not having a continuous stable lifestyle.
Its up to you to decide if its right for you. But i can only say that you wont know unless you try and i think being and living abroad can be challenging it can be scary at times. You can get nervous.
But it can also be rewarding lucrative life changing and defining and really ultimately it comes down to what you make of it. So i wish you all happy exploration and thank you very much .
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