AROUND THE WORLD IN 270 DAYS

CULTURAL RESEARCH

John visited a total of 43 countries (see below for list) and 120 cities on all 7 continents while traveling around the world during his gap year from June, 2019 to March, 2020. During the trip, John delved into the local cultures, societal structures, religions, traditions, histories and governments of the places he visited.

He logged hundreds of local cultural experiences including visiting a dozen indigenous people’s villages, taking cultural tours, visiting over 190 places of worship across all faiths, and interacting with locals on this journey. These experiences inspired a passion for exploring and researching different world cultures.

John is currently writing a book entitles The Cultures and Histories of 15 Lesser Known Countries with a target publication date of August, 2020. As part of his college Cultural Anthropology class at Liberty University, John wrote a research paper entitled “Cultural and Religious Implications on Post-Globalization Business.” John also completed a significant research paper entitled “The North Korea State and its Systems of Oppression on Its Population.”

Given his love of researching cultural development and historical context, John intends to major in Cultural Anthropology in college. Given John’s passion for opera singing and musical performance, he also has a keen interest in exploring the Ethnomusicology area of Cultural Anthropology which studies music from a cultural and societal development perspective.

John is currently looking for research opportunities with college Cultural Anthropology professors for this Summer, 2020.

CULTURAL EXPERIENCES

John’s travels took him a wide range of places including Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia, Singapore, Argentina, Antarctica, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Egypt and Antigua.

A highlight of the trip was the opportunity to visit 73 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and understand the cultural and historical implications meriting the UNESCO designation. In addition, John visited over 90 museums, 170 religious places of worship, over 100 historical places of significance and 25 national parks.

John witnessed cultures firsthand through festivals including the Gion Festival (Japan), The Street Life Festival (Germany), Princes’ Day (Netherlands), China’s 70th Anniversary Celebration (China), Dashain Festival (Nepal), Light Festival on the Irrawaddy River (Myanmar), Water Festival (Cambodia), and Annual Festival for Prosperity (Indonesia).

John also witnessed cultures through attending cultural shows in Banff, Canada, Budapest, Hungary, St. Petersburg, Russia, Beijing, China, Chengdu, China, Katmandu, Nepal, Hanoi, Vietnam, Yangon, Myanmar, Siem Reap, Cambodia and Kuching, Malaysia.

John was exposed to the significance and plight of various Indigenous People’s cultures through the visiting Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal tribe in the Daintree Rainforest in Australia, the Maori people of Whakarewarewa Thermal Village in New Zealand, the Tharu tribe in Nepal, the Sarawak Cultural Village in Malaysia, the Quechua people in Peru and the Kitchwa people in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador.

In addition, John experienced Tibetan monastery life with former nomad shepherds (aka pasturalists), meditated with Buddhist monks in Myanmar, studied the unique living practices of now-extinct Yamana indigenous people displayed at Tierra del Fuego National Park in Argentina, attended Banff Iniskim Cross-Cultural Powwow during Indigenous People’s Day in Canada and met descendants of the Mayan people in Mexico and Incan people in Peru.

John’s cultural volunteer experiences included helping on an organic rice farm in Myanmar, helping feed the hungry at the Gurudwara Sikh Temple in India, helping at a Bamboo workshop in Myanmar, helping feed Giant Pandas and clean their pens in China and experiencing day-to-day life in a Balinese village while teaching English to rural Balinese third-graders.

In Europe and Asia, John was exposed to the impact of major wars such as World War I & II, Korean War, Vietnam War and Soviet era Cold War and their impact on culture visiting Dachau Concentration Camp, the museum of Occupation and Freedom in Estonia, the museum of Occupation in Latvia, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan, the Hanoi Prison in Vietnam and Camp Greaves at the Demilitarized Zone in Korea.