My blog!

Here’s my post regarding Sue Water’s blogging challenge and this is my second year participating in her annual challenge.  I’ve decided to post about how blogging has enabled me to connect to a global audience.

I started my blog in early March of 2009. I did not really have much idea of what I’d be doing on it, what I’d be writing, and not really much plan for blogging. I had no idea in what direction my blog would be headed and I had no idea that it really would be so international. My middle school French teacher and my friend Allegra both had blogs and they were my inspiration for creating one.  I created my Edublogs and set up my blog with a vibrant green theme that I really liked. I wrote my first post with as many different language greetings as I knew and I was really excited to be able to make friends international friends through blogging.  In the almost two years I have had my blog I’ve made many international friends. I even gained a Slovak penpal through correspondence (via blogging) with an English teacher in Slovakia that I regularly keep in touch with (one of her students really wanted an American penpal!) .  I could have never imagined all the wonderful teachers and students that I’ve met so far (and will continue to meet) .

Probably some of the most memorable blogging friends I’ve made were Reni,and Priscila and Stephie, all from Argentina. We started blogging with one another around the time when I first started my blog; they’re only a little bit older than me, have similar interests, enjoy sharing their Argentine culture, and are just plain nice. Unfortunately our correspondance has come to a standstill when all three of them suddenly stopped blogging a few months ago. Truthfully I miss blogging with them very much. I loved my Argentine blogging friends; they were all such nice commenters and always had interesting posts. I especially loved when they talked about Argentina. It was really cool to see how so many things that are common in America are also known there too (for example music: Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, etc.). I also liked hearing about differences in our cultures and blogging with them opened my eyes to a lot of cultural things. Blogging with them really gave me a new perspective on the world and how interconnected it really is. Our blogging exchanges probably continued on for about a year (at least) and my blog feels like part of it is missing with the almost constant back-and-forth exchanges that I’d have with them.  I loved finding things in common with them and we always had something new to talk about. I learned a lot about Argentine culture and especially teen culture from blogging with them; they were all excellent blog role-models.  I hope that I can be a good  blogging influence like they all were to me for other bloggers around the world, especially those who are younger. Renata, Stephie and Priscila really made me feel welcomed into the blogging world and we’re practically my unofficial mentors and, last but not least, friends.

Blogging really is a great way to broaden your view on the world and your insight into other cultures. I have corresponded with teachers from South Africa, Portugal, Russia,  Singapore, and many more places and I have learned a great deal about their culture through both them and their students. I’ve blogged with students from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Norway, England, and practically everywhere. I love hearing about different countries and cultures, even different states inside the US differ from Massachusetts and are fun to learn about. Blogging not only connects you to a global audience but really introduces you to some amazing people from around the world, both students and educators.

Photo: from Google Image Search, http://www.allthingsdistributed.com/images/globe-europe.jpg