Where should I try to travel next summer?

integralmgmt

integralmgmt

Member
If you had the opportunity to travel all expenses paid by the State Department for 6 weeks in one of these countries, which would you choose?

Arabic in Jordan, Morocco, or Oman

Chinese in Taiwan or China

Hindi in India

Korean in South Korea

Persian in Tajikistan

Russian in Russia, Moldova, Estonia, or Latvia

Turkish in Turkey

I'm definitely leaning towards Turkish, Russian, or Korean. What do you guys think?
 
My friends dad has a lot of frequent flyer miles, and they get to choose where to go anywhere in the world every year. I'd say probably half the time they go to Russia. They also go to Norway, Switzerland, and Italy a lot. Oddly enough, they've never gone skiing out of the US, or even East Coast (We're on the same ski team).
 
If it was Persian in Iran, I would say go with that (but obviously the state dept wouldn't have anything there). Tajik is different enough that it would be difficult to be of much use.

Hot as all hell in morocco, jordan, and oman during the summer.

Winner sounds like turkish. Turkey is pretty sick.
 
13488593:skier_boy26 said:
If it was Persian in Iran, I would say go with that (but obviously the state dept wouldn't have anything there). Tajik is different enough that it would be difficult to be of much use.

Hot as all hell in morocco, jordan, and oman during the summer.

Winner sounds like turkish. Turkey is pretty sick.
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Depends where in Morocco. And if you like to rock climb or get outdoors, the Atlas Mountains have some pretty awesome stuff to offer. If you are near the ocean there are a lot of great surfing destinations. Honestly, not many on that list looked that great to me, but I like Morocco a lot.
 
my dad goes on about oman. my dads family lived there for a bit while my grandpa did some doctor residency shit or something. apparently it's hard to get into, they don't like tourists, so i'm not sure if it's the sickest place on your list but something to consider
 
OP I highly recommend China. I have never been a part of the state department exchange trips. But I did meet some students on a state department trip this past summer. I first visited China on a school trip in 2013 and really enjoyed the country. So this past summer I found a contact and ended up working at a kindergarten in Sichuan province. Most fulfilling thing I've done in my 17 years.

Here are a couple pros of choosing China over your other options in my eyes.

-China is more than a massiv city full of Asians. The country is super diverse from mountains and plateaus in Tibet to deserts in the northeast Xinjiang to fertile hills and rivers in the east to the coastline.

-The food no matter where you go will always be delicious

-People are always super friendly, mainly because you will be one of the few foreigners that they have ever seen in their lives if you go outside the big cities like Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai

-The language is awesome to learn. After studying it for three years I am still not near fluent, but the characters and tones are not like any indo european language. Mandarin is more than a language as well because loads of people enjoy calligraphy as art

-Nightlife is second to none, the cities dont really get going until 7 at night because it is so hot during the day. There are so many big squares and public parks where people will be dancing and hanging out until the early hours of the morning

Nevertheless, consider all the options OP, just thought you might want some info on a fellow newschoolers trip to China!
 
russia is great, if you're not an american. some of my family members took a trip to russia for two days while they spent a couple weeks in poland visiting family, and they barley got back to Poland. its a tough place to go because they really just don't like us. some of those other eastern countries are just as, if not more beautiful than russia... and you don't have to pay off border officers to get to some of those other countries as well.
 
I think learning Persian and Farsi would be amazing. I know alongside Arabic they're some of the most difficult languages to learn and be grammatically correct when having a conversation.

I'd probably go to South Korea or India.
 
Only one of those countries I've been to is Morocco. Spent about 6 weeks there and I'd highly recommend it to anyone (maybe not a solo female though). Food is fantastic, lots to see, and a ton to do. Also easy on the wallet.

I'm sure the other countries would be just as great though.
 
honestly man, I would not recommend going to Russia for 6 weeks, maybe 1, but not 6. I spent 2 days in st. Petersburg last month and it was interesting, but its was definitely enough time in that city to see everything you want to see.

There was nice stuff about Russia, but its mostly churches and museums. Outside of st Petersburg/Moscow i'm not sure if there's a lot to see or do.

I would go to south korea. It's safe to travel around, there's lots to see, they love western culture and westerners, it'd be really nice place to spend 6 weeks I think.
 
13489096:FROGGINBULLFISH said:
my dad goes on about oman. my dads family lived there for a bit while my grandpa did some doctor residency shit or something. apparently it's hard to get into, they don't like tourists, so i'm not sure if it's the sickest place on your list but something to consider
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Nowadays, Oman is really easy to go to (visa on arrival, etc). Not many tourists, but a great country to visit. New airport is Muscat is almost ready. Not as flashy as many of the new (or soon to open) airports in the Middle East. Super, duper hot in most places, however.

Upon revisiting this thread, I'd vote Tajikistan, especially if you can secure visas for some of the other 'stans and/or Iran after the six week stint. Everywhere is easy to visit whenever. Central Asia... not so much.
 
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