As an international student, promoting international goodwill is, if truth be told, on my list of things to do while at university. In our world today, alliance between different countries, communities and cultures is essential. It is important to understand the intricacies of different cultures and traditions. Globalization has taken over and the world is getting smaller and smaller, day by day. It is imperative to be aware of the needs of other countries and communities.
Being an Indian, I am likely to be part of a minority group of students at University. This, however, does not daunt me in any way. On the contrary, it will give me the opportunity to meet many new people, not only from the United States, but from all over the world. It will also enable me to inform people about my own country and beliefs. I am proud of my country and heritage will make an active effort to get people to learn about my country and culture as well as other cultures of the world. The root cause of war is the misunderstandings between religions. If one has an understanding of other countries and their religions, including their needs and their practices, conflict and negative friction between races is prevented.

For example, while working with Maison de la France (French Tourism), I promoted France at the Travel Trade Fair. It was here that I realized how different people are from each other, and yet, how similar we all are. We were affiliated with British Tourism and Switzerland Tourism for the fair and as far as tourism is concerned, Switzerland and the UK are France's rivals. But it didn't seem like that at all! The three countries interacted and mingled like they were all part of the same team.

And if you really think about it, we are a part of the same team. No matter where we are from and what we do, we are all a part of the same world. We are all human beings, living our lives together on the same planet. I believe that there should be no distinctions on the basis of caste and creed, for we all have a right to our own way of life. We can all understand each others needs, which makes us part of the same race the human race.

These are the ideas I wish to convey to other students and people around me. I plan to promote the need for interaction and communication between different races while I am university, possibly through a club or community. If I am able to, I would like to organize an interactive seminar where students from all around the world can just talk to each other and get to know about each others traditions and customs.

Learn more about this author, Minoti Vaishnav.
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