DISQUS

Laurel · 1 year ago

I'm living in Italy and being in Europe has really opened my eyes to the fact that countries many of us might assume we "know" via popular culture have so much more diversity than we dream . . . . Assuming = bad! I'm now doing language exchanges with several Italians and trying to learn more about the culture(s) here as I go.

Guylaine · 1 year ago

All of them... to be enriched by them...for the sake of stretching my mind and opening more and more my horizons... also to be reminded each end every time that no culture in particular is the guardian of the Truth. Also to learn more about myself in the process... Having done three different overseas postings, I discovered what a rewarding challenge it was to have to adapt to a completely different environment where none or almost none or your pre existing references exist. "Pour obtenir une vérité quelconque sur moi, il faut que je passe par l'autre" (J.-P. Sartre)

Thanks for your daily opportunity to be inspired...

Romana Mirza · 1 year ago

Spain. Parts of their culture has deep roots in an Islamic History I want to explore and inhale that.

Jenny · 1 year ago

Spain!
A land rich in everything that matters to me. One of only 2 places in the world where I feel completely at home. The other is Chicago.

Chantal · 1 year ago

India! Everything about Hinduism is celebratory, from the music, to dance, to food, festivals, and family. I've heard that you experience all of life everyday - nothing is hidden - life, death, rich, poor, it's intense and real.

JoeM · 1 year ago

I want to learn more about my own. I've lived fourteen years overseas and from the outside looking in, I surely don't understand it. And from the inside look out...I can see why others don't either. We Americans are like no other culture on the planet. Which is why, I think, so many in other cultures mis-judge us.

colette · 1 year ago

Have you actually been to India?

colette · 1 year ago

I love the opportunity for growth right here at home - USA. However, my one week visit to Spain was amazing! I have ancestors from Madrid, yet I was surprised that it felt like home to me. I look like the blond haired and blue eyed people and they naturally assumed I was one of them. (Unfortunately my Castillion was a dead give away of where I was born.) I love the simpleness, the kindness, the ancient feeling of a world long past, but not forgotten.

Krystl · 1 year ago

Japan! I have been studying Japanese on-and-off for a few years and last year had a chance to visit. I am fascinated by the way the language contains so much information about the culture. I think that is true of any language, but especially in Japanese, where there are at least four ways to say anything depending on your situation and relationships. I am also very intrigued by the blending of ancient history and style with the most hyper-modern technology and aesthetics - you see this all over Japan. Futuristic traditional. Elegant technopunk.

Rushmi · 1 year ago

I really don't know if they are a culture...but I would love to learn about the Gypsies around the world. It seems that most european and eastern cultures have a rich and lively group of gypsies. I picture myself dancing in my barefeet in the darkest of nights, a glow of a large campfire illuminating the camp. I can feel the hot sand kicking up around my long red billowing skirt. The sound of a single drum beating out a heart rythm...and let's not leave out the passionate gypsy men... (a fantasy for sure, but still very curious about the gypsies of the world.)

Ellen · 1 year ago

There are lots of good books about the Romany people - I did a research paper on them in college and learned that they are probably descended from a group of nomadic mercenaries in India. Fascinating. I focused on the group in Granada, Spain, who live in caves with all modern amenities.

Ellen · 1 year ago

I want to learn more about the Basques. It interests me that a group can be seemingly ignored by the larger world and still maintain their cultural integrity and cohesiveness.

The place I feel most at home, oddly enough, is Japan.

Rushmi · 1 year ago

Thanks Ellen, I will check it out for sure!

Patsy Duggan · 1 year ago

India, I have been three times and planning another trip. I have travelled almost everywhere in the world except a few countries. But India I am drawn back to each time. There is something in the culture, of the simplicity that attracts me besides the yoga and great massages.

Susie Hutchinson · 1 year ago

Southern France. I'd like to live there one day.

Ngonzi Truth Crushshon · 1 year ago

Native Americans.....I'm going to visit a reservation in North Dakota w my mom for her birthday. I love the stories of struggle and the parables they pass on to their children. Spanish speaking cultures....I've been to Mexico....would like to visit Brazil...and Spain....I'm taking Spanish classes now but would like to learn more about the culture and traditions...it has always fascinated me how strong the family traditions are.....Also, I'd like to learn more about Chinese culture....and the stories....and traditions...Their discipline and meditation...and excercise (ability to stay fit and spiritually centered) intrigue me. I love their traditional sayings/wisdom too. How do they live to be so old and in great health.....these are the answers I wish to know.

kerrymac · 1 year ago

I find Nepal facinating...the little groupings of homes in the hills. Taking my boys to Africa as missionaries is definitely a must when they get older. I want them to learn to give back with an open heart. Of course I would also want to take a week off while there and visit Kenya and maybe Zimbabwe to explore the beauty of the country and it's animals.
For Carrie, not sure where you live but Vancouver Airpost is filled with gorgeous Haida Art, there are amazing Totems in Stanley Park. In Paradise Valley near Squamish there is also a place called the Longhouse where you can do traditional Native tasks such as making string out of birch bark, cook bannock on a stick over a fire etc. It's wonderful. The new Native Cultural center for the Olympics is almost done here in Whistler too. www.snickerdoodles.typepad.com

Stacey · 1 year ago

I have always wanted to travel to Greece. It always seems so wildly romantic and so full of culture. I know that the man of my dreams has to be sitting there waiting for me either in a gondola boat on the canal or sitting on the side of a bridge. I just need to get there. Ha, Ha. You can't tell that I am a hopeless romantic can you????? LOL!

gail · 1 year ago

I have been to India several times. The north is so different from the south. The country is so magical and the people so wonderful. India is the kind of place you either love or hate. If you plan on going you really need to talk to people to get you into the zone as you arrive in the middle of the night!

If you want any info please email me

Cassandra · 1 year ago

I love learning about any native culture especially those in Canada and Australia. The plight of the natives around the world is very similar as is their connection to nature and animals. I am fascinated by the Dreamtime stories and the art of the Aborigines in Australia as well as the belief that the world was sung into existence. I was fortunate to attend ceremonies and events of Huron Indians when I was a child and the feeling of respect and inclusion was something that has shaped my love for the art, the stories and the beliefs of all native cultures.

Stephanie · 1 year ago

I think I probably belong more or less where I am - on the west coast of British Columbia, getting rained on all the time. However, I've always been drawn to all things Asian (maybe from growing up in Vancouver). I especially love the aesthetics of anything Japanese.

When I get my black belt in karate I will go to Okinawa for a couple of weeks. I've always been fascinated by Japanese culture. Zen buddhism, the architecture, the textiles, the poetry - everything just seems so different. It's a couple of years away though!

(My favorite pair of shoes are Dolce and Gabbana from 1997 - black silk platform wedges embroidered with pink peonies. They look very Japanese. They cost almost all the money I had at the time, and I still keep them even though they are worn out!)

Sara Cook · 1 year ago

Ireland, I am a little bit Irish, but I have always wanted to know more, about the country, about my family, about everything.

Gwyneth Jones · 1 year ago

My own - The Celts. Their magic and art is so interesting and yet still a mystery to me.

Janet · 1 year ago

I'll second that. My roots are from 4 of the 6 areas that were home to Celts -- Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall and Wales. The other two were Brittany and the Isle of Man. Understanding where I came from, will lead me to branch out. I'd also like to understand my neighbours in Quebec better and speak and read French properly. Finally, I think there's something for me in meditation and the cultures that embrace it.

Beth C. · 1 year ago

I absolutely feel most comfortable in France. I got my second major in French when I was in college so I had to take lots of French history courses taught in the language. I still have a decent amstery of the language. I have been to France, but only got to stay for a short time. I would like to go live there for an extended period to learn about living in and actually experiencing their culture.

Jane · 1 year ago

My grandfather was Romany. He came here in the 1920s from Romania and instilled in me a love of jazz, feta cheese and chai. There's an album by Giles Apap and the Transylvanian Mountain Boys with some good music on it.

Jane · 1 year ago

The native cultures of southwest, where I live. Also the countries of North Africa.

hermene hartman · 1 year ago

FRENCH. SO SOPHISTICATED. SO SIMPLE, YET ELEGANT ALWAYS. SO LOVING.

SRead · 1 year ago

Growing up in Canada my neighourhoods were rich with cultural diversity and it was and continues to be..... well,amazing! Everything from singing arabic songs, making pita bread to indulging in real Italian food, and celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr. A Jamaican boy cut a piece of my hair during a movie in grade five.....apparently he was fascinated with my straight hair - I loved his curls and the way he spoke. I think I love absorbing as much as I can about so many cultures from the people who have come to Canada and have been my friends and neighbours. This has been true in the many provinces and communities, urban and rural I have lived in. Perhaps one of the most unexpected cultures I have experienced was in the southern USA and the most incredible Christmas ever was a Christian and Jewish celebration in Cape Breton - music and humour abound - so much tradition and connection to our respective roots! Our family also continues to connect to aborginal cultures. My husband is adopted and there is an undeniable presence of aboriginal heritage and like Carrie I have always loved the beautiful graphic images and the architecture of the Haida people.

Audrey · 1 year ago

I have always had a sense of belonging and curiosity to learning about the Japanese culture... I am so captivated and drawn to their principles of life, how they view nature, their art and textiles, oh and lets not forget their food!

Xai Vicente Charles · 1 year ago

As a child I was fascinated by other cultures. Where others lived, the food they ate, what language they spoke and of course music. I surround myself with people from different cultures so I can grow. There is so much beauty in the world and I want to take it all in.

I do have a soft spot for Moorish Spain.

Tabitha · 1 year ago

Sadly? My own. I'm Singaporean Chinese, I grew up in a very Western influenced world, and I would love to go visit China and other Asian nations to make up for everything I took for granted.

Connie · 1 year ago

I probably belong back in 19th century Paris around the Impressionist artists and around Colette and her coterie of friends. Viva la France.

C Martin · 1 year ago

I would like a deeper understanding of our own. From the beginning to the contemporary I would like to possess the full sociological understanding; the cause and effect of the events that have shaped us.

Deborah Drake · 1 year ago

Scotland...full of its ghosts and history and rituals and community and pubs that are family friendly. Rolling green country side with castles and crofts and stone circles. Give me a brogue accent any day to call to my celtic spirit. My trip to Scotland in 1997 haunts me still.

bene · 1 year ago

I want to learn more about religion, as i am deeply attracted to spiritualism. Life is a journey and i want to learn as much as possible on my travel. I want to visit Tibet, I want to see India and a lifelong dream to get a ticket to the Transiberian railway. I want to see how people live according to their religion and what impact it has on their lives. I want to know if ancient ceremonies and beliefs are still present, as it is in Christianity for instance. For me, God is love and every human being is as valuable as the next. Religion is being used to set a value on peoples lives , starting a war, destroying whole tribes of people, denying freedom of speak and so the story goes on and on and on . I admire Gandhi and
Dalai Lama for their morals, strength, passion, compassion, humor and love of all life on this earth. I want to know and learn more about their view of the world. I think we all could benefit from their teachings.

bene · 1 year ago

What a great idea! Who wouldnt like to take a fiery green absinth drink with Tolouse Lautrec, Renoir and Degas watching the showgirls lifting their skirts during the cancan? I

Blume Bauer · 1 year ago

Japan, specifically Okinawa. I had a friend that traveled there for the Air Force. He never came back, he loved the culture there so much. I would love to visit there some day.

@ Danielle, I don't normally plug anyone, but a dear friend of mind is leading a tour to Morocco in November of this year and she is an incredible tour guide. The first time I went to San Francisco with her, I saw sites and places that I had never seen before (I had previously been there dozens of times). Anyway, if you're interested at all, her website is www.moroccoinsidertours.com .

Ashley · 1 year ago

All of them, I especially want to learn about the way they dress. I just graduated in December with a major in Fashion and a minor in Psychology. I'll start my masters in the Fall and I'm fascinated by the way people dress and why they dress that way. Fashion is so much more than retail.

Janelle · 1 year ago

Japan! I have been absolutely fascinated with their culture since I was young. I am inspired by their richness, color palettes and textures, the patterns in their every day life. I appreciate their sense of honor, loyalty, and respect, all values with I hold dear. It's such a mysterious culture, but so vibrant, meaningful, and seeded with rich history. LOVE it.

ElegantDiscovery · 1 year ago

Brazil & Spain, I am so drawn, inspired and fascinated by those two destinations. I've never been but will one day very soon.