Every year, students from all across the globe travel outside their countries to experience life from a different perspective. However, some students are unable to travel to see new cultures so teachers like Nicole May and Ryan Bruick bring the culture to them.

    English teacher May traveled to China last summer to teach English.

    “We landed in Beijing and I was there for about a day and a half and I said, ‘Oh my god, this is the best, I have got to do this again’ to the point where the longer I stayed there I was like ‘I don’t want to leave’,” May said. “I fell in love with China. I fell in love with the kind of things we were doing there.”

    May is going through with her statement and is flying back to Beijing in July.

    “Going over there a second time is a little different,” May said. “One, I’m a little bit more experienced, but you never can quite take in all of China in one gulp. But this time when I’m going over, I’ll have a slightly different job, so I wont be teaching, I’ll kind of be helping teachers teach so to speak.”

    China has become a big part of May’s life she says.

    “I want to teach over there permanently,” May said. “I will [go] one of these days and not come back.”

    Chemistry teacher Bruick is also traveling internationally to teach. He is going to be teaching AP Physics 1, Chemistry 1, and Physics 1 in Dubai.

    “It’s a little different than the teachers that are doing the summer programs,” Bruick said. “I’m actually taking classes and doing work over the summer like I always do and then I’m leaving August 11th to teach there full time for 2 years.”

    Originally, Bruick was not interested in leaving the country, but after a little thought, he decided to take the opportunity and run with it.

    “In the summers I help lead teacher classes on how to teach chemistry using a different research based model,” Bruick said. “One of their teachers from the American school in Dubai was a student in the workshop for us, and she recognized the good fit. Then she asked me if I would be interested in working in Dubai and I said no. Then she asked me again and I said no Then about the tenth time she asked me, I was like ‘Alright, I’ll at least listen.’”

    Bruick says leaving for two years is a good thing for him.

    “I’m not married, I don’t have kids, I don’t have pets, and I don’t have anything,” Bruick said. “I have a car that I’m selling and other than that I have really no material possessions other than a couple guitars. That’s it. So for me to pick up and take off, it’s never been more convenient.”

    Bruick says leaving Noblesville will be hard, but the opportunity was just something he couldn’t pass up.

    “I really like working here,” Bruick said. “I have a lot invested here and it doesn’t feel particularly good to walk away, but there are more positives in going than there are negatives. There are really no negatives in staying here other than I miss out on that experience and I want that experience.”

    Teaching in another country for so long was not a part of Bruick’s life plan, but he says he realizes it’s just what he needed.

    “I definitely wasn’t looking for anything, it kind of found me,” Bruick said.

    May and Bruick both agree that everyone should have the chance to explore the world.

    “The farther you go away from home, the more you realize people are pretty much the same,” May said. “It’s all about popping some bubbles and seeing what’s there.”

    As much as both teachers are teaching and bringing their knowledge to new countries, they are also learning just as much themselves.

    “It’s really a language camp for the kids,” May said, “but it becomes as much as a cultural exchange program between the students and us.”

Surfin’ in South Africa

Photo provided by Ally Warner

    Recent graduate Ally Warner packed her bags and flew to South Africa by herself for a month on May 5th.

    “I went through an online organization called IVHQ (International Volunteer Headquarters) for a surf outreach mission trip where I teach 9-15 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds how to surf,” Warner said. “I also am a gym teacher at the primary schools.”

    Just like May and Bruick, Warner says she has learned just as much about the world as she has been teaching it.

    “The best part is the adventuring,” Warner said. “It’s so beautiful here and so is the love from the kids.”

    As Warner’s short trip comes to an end, she has realized how much it has changed her.

    “This trip has changed my perspective on life and how lucky I am to have the life I do,” Warner said. “The kids are very troubled because they have experience with things no kids should have to experience. They need so much love to know they are worth more than violence.”