A great thank you goes to the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council and especially to the generous Freeman Foundation for giving me this special and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to China and Taiwan. My journey to these places has totally opened a new whole world for me. My global knowledge has broadened more than I could imagine. The trip has taught me a lot about who I am as an individual, student, teenager, and as a citizen of this world.
Traveling to China and Taiwan helped me excavate my interest in life and how this interest of mine will play an important role in my life in the future. In Hawaii and in school, my interest and passion are sort of caged in one certain focus in life and career plan. As a student of the Farrington Health Academy, my academic strength has to do with the medical field and the sciences. However, after taking this memorable and meaningful trip to countries I have never been to before, I am appalled to find out how little I actually know about myself and about this world I dwell in.
The trip simply helped break the shell around me and now I truly view the world differently. During the trip, we met with a lot of organizations that work for international affairs and environmental concerns. I enjoyed and valued those important meetings because my global vision has significantly developed. Throughout the trip, we enjoyed a number of adventures. However, I must say that meeting the Taiwanese students and spending one day with them added a new chapter to my life, and that was so far the best hightlight of this trip.
I have truly grown up and matured during the trip, and exploring the world is like exploring my inner self. The trip has shaped me into a better person, someone with a wider global perspective, an individual with a more positive vision in life, and a new student with a stronger character and determination to be one of the leaders of tomorrow. All these positive changes and outcomes happened because of the trip.
Again, thank you very much!
Mitch Cadiz, a participant of the
2008 PAAC Summer Study Tour
to China and Taiwan
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Acknowledgement |