Meghan Hesterman, a 2023 UMD graduate, has always felt drawn to traveling. When her high school Spanish class took a trip to Peru, she fell in love with being in a new culture and a new city. “I caught the travel bug very early,” she says. Most of all, she realized that she wanted to connect with other people in another language, outside of the U.S. and beyond the controlled, secluded environment of a classroom.
This desire to travel led her to Spain, Croatia, and more recently, Uruguay. Through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant Program, she—along with seven peers—spent eight months in Uruguay learning and teaching in various schools.
Hesterman had never been to Uruguay before, as the Fulbright program encourages applicants to explore a new country with an open mind. This new, unfamiliar setting did not deter her in the slightest, as she welcomes the challenges that come with learning how to live in another culture. In fact, she seeks them out—getting out of her comfort zone in this way has helped broaden her worldview and given her a sense of self and independence.
She finds the feeling of moving past challenges and becoming integrated into a new setting encouraging. “There are so many other things that make it worth it,” she says. “Every time that I’ve traveled … it’s confirmed that I am the best version of myself when I am abroad.”
Hesterman also asks herself what can be learned from any culture shocks she may experience, examining her own cultural upbringing in the process. She’s found that there are many lessons to be learned from other cultures, and has been able to grow from them.
“I haven’t done it all, but I have experienced a few different types of travel, and each has been very valuable and formative,” she comments.
While working on a bachelor's degree in early childhood studies and a minor in Spanish at UMD, she studied abroad in Spain. She cites this as one of her most valuable experiences to date. She loved staying with her host family, and felt a deep connection to the city and the people she met there. In her senior year, she and a few other early childhood education students spent time teaching in Croatia before backpacking across Europe.
In Uruguay, Hesterman got to fulfill her desire to stay abroad for longer than she had previously, immersing herself deeper into a culture instead of only getting a brief glimpse into it. As an English teaching assistant, she started in primary schools in Montevideo, then moved to high schools and teacher training centers in Maldonado. Rotating throughout the week to four or five different schools gave her insight into the ways schools can improve and what issues may arise in different settings.
This experience further affirmed that this is the career path she wants to be on. It has also helped her broaden her skills and knowledge in the field. “I’ve been dipping my toes in many different pools,” says Hesterman.
Outside the classroom, she found a community to live and grow with, and made memories she won’t soon forget—especially with the help of her blog.
Passion project
Hesterman keeps a blog titled “Journal of an Evolving Teacher.” She started it as a first-year student at UMD to reflect on her experience throughout her education as she learned. This core purpose has not changed, but it has evolved into something much more than she originally planned.
The content is what you might expect from a blog: she documents her experiences, aiming to preserve things she doesn’t want to forget, as well as her musings on various topics. She finds it allows her to connect with her community, both in Minnesota and Uruguay. She has also published multiple short stories, along with a couple of articles in the Star Tribune.
The blog has also gone above and beyond Hesterman’s expectations. She presented it to her students in Uruguay as a part of the curriculum, allowing them to reflect on their own experiences and perceptions of topics. She’s grateful that its cultural and educational value has been recognized. “It’s been really wonderful and surreal to see something personal—a passion project—brought into the classroom,” she says.
Future aspirations
Hesterman’s final day of teaching in Uruguay was November 21. She is looking forward to spending the holidays back in the U.S. with her friends and family, enjoying some downtime. Although she doesn’t have any concrete long-term career plans, she says she aspires to pursue graduate research and continue regularly traveling. “I am pursuing teaching positions centering on cultural and language exchange, and am open to international teaching opportunities in the future!”
This story was written by UMD student Jax Wilder, who is majoring in writing studies and minoring in psychology. Jax assists Lissa Maki with communications for the College of Education and Human Service Professions.