There are seasons of life when travel comes easily, and there are seasons when responsibilities keep us closer to home. While I would always love to be boarding another plane or setting off on another road trip, the past few weeks reminded me that sometimes the world has a way of coming to you instead.
Within the span of just a few weeks, I found myself sharing homemade Korean barbecue with our neighbors, celebrating Holi with students from India, breaking the Ramadan fast alongside Muslim students, hearing stories about life in Vietnam and the United Kingdom, preparing graduation sashes representing countries from around the world, and finishing a master’s thesis exploring the history of ancient Celtic symbols.
None of these moments required a passport.
Yet each one offered a glimpse into another culture, another tradition, and another way of seeing the world. They reminded me that travel isn’t always measured in miles. Sometimes it happens around a dinner table, through a conversation, or while celebrating traditions with people willing to share a piece of their home with you.
Looking back, I realized that each experience built on the last, creating a reminder that the world is often much closer than we think.
Cultural Experiences Close to Home
- A Taste of Korea Right Next Door
- Celebrating Holi with Our Students
- Sharing an Iftar Dinner During Ramadan
- Seeing Nashville Through International Eyes
- A Room Filled With Flags
- My Own Journey
Travel isn’t always measured in miles. Sometimes it happens around a dinner table, through a conversation, or while celebrating traditions with people willing to share a piece of their home with you.
A Taste of Korea Right Next Door
The first cultural experience came just a few houses away. Our neighbors, who are originally from South Korea, invited us over for authentic homemade Korean barbecue. Whenever our neighbor starts feeling homesick, she pulls out the tabletop grill and recreates the flavors of home.
The food was incredible, but what I enjoyed even more were the conversations around the table. As we cooked and shared a meal together, she told us stories about the part of Korea where she grew up, the traditions she misses, and the little differences between life there and life in Tennessee.
It reminded me that some of the best travel experiences aren’t always found in restaurants or museums—they happen when someone invites you into their home and shares a piece of their culture with you.
Celebrating Holi with Our Students
One of my favorite parts of working in international education is helping students celebrate traditions from home. One of our biggest events this spring was our Holi Color Festival, organized with students from India.
Music filled the air while clouds of brightly colored powder covered everything—and everyone—in sight. Students laughed, danced, and happily threw handfuls of color at friends and strangers alike. Before long there wasn’t a clean shirt anywhere in sight.
Holi celebrates the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil, but even without understanding every tradition, it was impossible not to be swept up in the joy of the celebration. Watching students share a piece of their culture with classmates from around the world made all the planning worthwhile.
Sharing an Iftar Dinner During Ramadan
Only a short time later, we hosted our annual Ramadan Iftar Dinner, bringing students together to break the day’s fast after sunset.
The evening included a wonderful meal, a speaker from the local mosque, and a beautiful display of flags representing Muslim-majority countries from around the world. For many of our students, Ramadan is one of the most important times of the year, and it was meaningful to create a space where they could celebrate together while also sharing their traditions with others.
One of the things I appreciate most about events like this is seeing students learn about cultures different from their own—not through a textbook, but by sitting together around a table and sharing a meal.
Seeing Nashville Through International Eyes
Between those two events, our office welcomed visitors from Vietnam. One guest was originally from the United Kingdom, while the other called Hanoi home. I had the opportunity to spend the day showing them around Nashville.
It was interesting how quickly the conversation shifted from me sharing my city to them sharing theirs. We talked about daily life in Hanoi, business in Vietnam, and the differences between our countries. One of my favorite parts of meeting people from around the world is discovering how quickly conversations move beyond landmarks and become about family, traditions, and everyday life.
Travel has a wonderful way of creating those exchanges, but sometimes they happen without ever leaving home.
A Room Filled With Flags
As those events came to an end, my attention shifted to another favorite tradition—our International Graduation Ceremony.
Before the university’s larger commencement, we hold a special ceremony celebrating our international graduates. One of my responsibilities is preparing the graduation sashes representing each student’s home country.
As I sorted through the collection of flags, I couldn’t help but pause for a moment. Every sash represented someone who had left home, crossed an ocean, adapted to a new culture, and persevered through the challenges of earning a degree abroad. Together they created a colorful reminder of just how many different stories, languages, and cultures are represented on our campus.
It is one of my favorite moments of the year.
My Own Journey
While helping our students prepare for graduation, I was also racing toward my own finish line.
In just a few short weeks, I would complete my master’s degree. My final thesis explored Celtic symbols—their origins, meanings, evolution through history, and their continued influence in modern culture.
I found it amusing that my days were filled with celebrating cultures from every corner of the world, while my evenings were spent immersed in the traditions of ancient Celtic societies. It felt like I had spent the semester traveling through history and across continents without ever leaving my desk.
Moments like these remind me why I chose to work in international education in the first place. Every conversation, celebration, and shared meal offers another opportunity to learn something about the world—and about the people who call it home.
Of course I still dream about future trips and new destinations. There is nothing quite like standing in a place you’ve only read about or walking through the streets of a city halfway around the world. But until the next adventure comes along, I have discovered that there are countless opportunities to experience the world a little closer to home.
Sometimes it is a meal shared with neighbors. Sometimes it is a festival filled with bright colors and laughter. Sometimes it is hearing someone tell stories about the place they call home.
Travel has always been my favorite way to understand the world, but these experiences reminded me that curiosity doesn’t have to wait for a boarding pass. If we are willing to listen, ask questions, and accept invitations, the world has a remarkable way of finding us exactly where we are.
If you enjoyed this post, here are some others where the world was brought closer to home:
Thanks for coming along on these cultural experiences of when the world comes to you. May you find food, celebrations, and people that remind you how small the world really is.
Follow along for more adventures near and far!
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