{"id":5091,"date":"2014-11-26T11:14:24","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T15:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/?p=5091"},"modified":"2022-03-23T16:21:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T20:21:42","slug":"gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaining Understanding and Seeing Beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kalamazoo<\/a>Not long ago the editor of Pink Pangea<\/em> called our attention to an article<\/strong><\/a> the blog published by alumna Britta Seifert \u201912<\/strong> when she was a K student. Pink Pangea<\/em> is designed for and dedicated to women who love to travel. Britta\u2019s piece is titled “My Experience as a Woman in Varanasi, India,” and it\u2019s quite timeless. In it she describes a 12-week period of adjustment during which a sense of being overwhelmed often had her questioning the wisdom of her study abroad program choice. But that period didn\u2019t last, and she was soon convinced that Varanasi was the best of all her options–“I can say without a doubt that I\u2019m glad to be here and wouldn\u2019t have picked anywhere else to spend my college study abroad,” she wrote. What accounts for the change? According to Britta, growth in understanding and perception: “I\u2019ve come to understand the order in the disorder, and see a beauty in the chaos.” Hard to put a value on that kind of outcome.<\/p>\n

Britta\u2019s article also chronicles a growing awareness of gender that is both difficult and empowering. The awareness derives from daily living where “the men I encounter don\u2019t really respect me \u2013 don\u2019t necessarily consider my opinion valid or my requests legitimate.” Britta responds with a self-assuredness and confidence, evident in actions, that becomes “one of the greatest things I gain from my time here.” Though four years old, the piece is good reading, especially as many sophomores use the current winter break to prepare their study abroad applications. Britta earned her Bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropology and sociology and current serves as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not long ago the editor of Pink Pangea called our attention to an article the blog published by alumna Britta Seifert \u201912 when she was a K student. Pink Pangea is designed for and dedicated to women who love to travel. Britta\u2019s piece is titled “My Experience as a Woman in Varanasi, India,” and it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[232],"tags":[31,166,47],"post_formats":[],"class_list":["post-5091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-alumni","tag-gender","tag-study-abroad"],"yoast_head":"\r\nGaining Understanding and Seeing Beauty - News and Events<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Not long ago the editor of Pink Pangea called our attention to an article the blog published by alumna Britta Seifert \u201912 when she was a K student. 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Pink\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News and Events\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KalamazooCollege\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-26T15:14:24+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-23T20:21:42+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2014\/11\/rittaSiefertThumb.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"194\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"199\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Van Sweden\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@kcollege\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Van Sweden\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/\",\"name\":\"Gaining Understanding and Seeing Beauty - News and Events\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2014\/11\/rittaSiefertThumb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-26T15:14:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-23T20:21:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/33b812ef7fd17031ab566856049c97af\"},\"description\":\"Not long ago the editor of Pink Pangea called our attention to an article the blog published by alumna Britta Seifert \u201912 when she was a K student. 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aria-label=\"archive of category Alumni\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/category\/alumni\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Alumni<\/a>","tags_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/alumni\/\" rel=\"tag\">alumni<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/gender\/\" rel=\"tag\">gender<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/tag\/study-abroad\/\" rel=\"tag\">study abroad<\/a>","social_share_info":"<a data-share=\"facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/\" class=\"pl-facebook-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/\" class=\"pl-twiiter-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a data-share=\"linkedin\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/gaining-understanding-and-seeing-beauty\/\" class=\"pl-linkedin-share social-share-default pl-social-share\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fab fa-linkedin-in\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>","wordExcerpt_info":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2014\/11\/rittaSiefertArticle.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5092 size-full\" src=\"\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/files\/2014\/11\/rittaSiefertArticle.jpg\" alt=\"Kalamazoo College alumna Britta Seifert\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>Not long ago the editor of <em>Pink Pangea<\/em> called our attention to an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinkpangea.com\/2010\/10\/finding-beauty-in-the-chaos-of-varanasi\/\"><strong>article<\/strong><\/a> the blog published by alumna <strong>Britta Seifert \u201912<\/strong> when she was a K student. <em>Pink Pangea<\/em> is designed for and dedicated to women who love to travel. Britta\u2019s piece is titled “My Experience as a Woman in Varanasi, India,” and it\u2019s quite timeless. In it she describes a 12-week period of adjustment during which a sense of being overwhelmed often had her questioning the wisdom of her study abroad program choice. But that period didn\u2019t last, and she was soon convinced that Varanasi was the best of all her options–“I can say without a doubt that I\u2019m glad to be here and wouldn\u2019t have picked anywhere else to spend my college study abroad,” she wrote. What accounts for the change? According to Britta, growth in understanding and perception: “I\u2019ve come to understand the order in the disorder, and see a beauty in the chaos.” Hard to put a value on that kind of outcome.<\/p>\n<p>Britta\u2019s article also chronicles a growing awareness of gender that is both difficult and empowering. The awareness derives from daily living where “the men I encounter don\u2019t really respect me \u2013 don\u2019t necessarily consider my opinion valid or my requests legitimate.” Britta responds with a self-assuredness and confidence, evident in actions, that becomes “one of the greatest things I gain from my time here.” Though four years old, the piece is good reading, especially as many sophomores use the current winter break to prepare their study abroad applications. Britta earned her Bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropology and sociology and current serves as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n","comment_info":"No Comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5091"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9455,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5091\/revisions\/9455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5091"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kzoo.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_formats?post=5091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}