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Rita Bruzsa and Jelena Mitrovic are teachers traveling to the United States with the Fulbright Education Program. After living in central Europe for your entire life, visiting the U.S. will give you quite a shock at the cultural difference! The teachers who traveled to the United States are learning new concepts of education and technology to take back to their classrooms at home. Katie, Jelena, and Rita discuss the experience of participating in this scholarship program, as well as the similarities and differences between each country!  (Running time 33:27)

Transcript:  

Katie: Hi everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of The Bear in Mind Podcast. I'm your host, Katie Nord. Let's get started. Back in 1946, US Senator J. William Fulbright founded a cultural exchange program called the Fulbright Program that provided an international opportunity of education and research to over 160 countries around the world. Students, teachers, and scholars apply to this program for a chance to travel to the United States to discover more about technology, methodology, education, and cultural differences between each country. The selected participants will travel from across the globe, spanning from Central Asia to Eastern Europe, and spend over a month and a half growing as educators to bring even more teaching methods back to their countries they live in. Â鶹´«Ã½ has been hosting 22 teachers from 17 different countries and aiding them in their educational journey here in the US. Today we have two special guests with us, Rita Bruzsa and Jelena Mitrovic, who are both Fulbright professors studying here at Â鶹´«Ã½. For the time being. I'm sure it's been a wonderful experience for you both and your entire cohort, and it's going to be a great time interviewing you both today. I hope you two can teach the listeners and I even more about the program, but more importantly, your experiences. Thank you for joining me today. Firstly, if you could please introduce yourselves. We would love to learn a little bit about you ladies, where you're from, what you teach, how long you've been teaching for and anything you'd like us to know.

Rita: I'm Rita Bruzsa, I'm from Hungary and I'm from Budapest. I teach English and also I'm a violin teacher. I've been teaching English for 30 years, or I've been a teacher for 30 years. I teach in a very prestigious school in Budapest because the members of the Hungarian Radio Children's Choir, most of them teach at our school.

Jelena: My name is Jelena Mitrovic. I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I've been teaching English as a second language for about 15 years now. My students are mostly high school students, so age 15 to 18. I must say I've never imagined myself as an English teacher, but somehow it turned out as a good profession for me and I really enjoy what I do.

Katie: That's wonderful. You guys are so experienced and you have a lot under your belt, and I'm excited to hear about all that you've done as teachers. I really like music and I've done a lot about music in my life, so I'm excited to hear what it's like in another country. I'm learning a second language as well, so hearing about it from an educator who teaches second languages must be really interesting, especially outside of the US. Fulbright is notorious for having a very selective system when choosing their participants. What would you say the process was like applying to the Fulbright Program? How did you react after finding out you got selected to take part as well?

Rita: First of all, I was over the moon, but I couldn't believe it that it happened. I tried to be accepted for three times, and it was the last time that actually I was successful. All the time when I applied, I was a little bit more forward. I feel that a dream came true.

Rita: I imagined walking in the street and going here in Colorado. Walking in the university, in the campus, I imagined the parks and the buildings. When the first time we were walking really in the streets, I could remember that it was my dream.

Katie: That's so cool. I'm so happy for you as well. What was your experience like, Jelena?

Jelena: It is my first time that I applied for Fulbright. It actually happened after. We've done some teaching program as well back in Bosnia, organized by and funded by American Embassy. And my teachers from that program suggested, why don't you try? So I did it was kind of a long process. It took me two years to complete everything. First I applied online, then we had two interviews and

then they made me do the testing part. Also, I had to complete medical history, important documents and then they selected me. Thank you guys for doing that. I mean, considering the fact it was my first time and I got it, I was like Rita said, over the moon with that, I couldn't actually believe it was happening until I sit on the plane. I'm here now. I'm very pleased to be here. I like Colorado so much, especially because of the mountains and stuff. One of my hobbies is actually hiking and this was the best country they could send me to.

Katie: I'm so glad. And the mountains are beautiful. They obviously picked you guys for a reason. When I was reading about the program. You guys are the cream of the crop. It's amazing the wonderful opportunity of the program that they've given you, and it's so cool that you got to come all the way out here and experience life in a totally different view.

Jelena: Yes it is. It's something new for me, but I didn't actually experience the so-called cultural shock because it's very hard to surprise me. I knew what to expect in a way.

Rita: Yes, I would add that now I also feel that I'm at home because when we go out or we go on a trip and we come back, we feel that, oh, home sweet home. But actually we go back to our dormitory room, one of the, let's say, new experience for me that I am together with other three teachers, so live together in one apartment. It's a kind of new situation because all of us are adults. So it was a long time ago when we lived together with other students or other companion. It teaches us how we have to be tolerant and we have to accept other cultures, other traditions. Somebody talks very loud, but we can solve everything. It's a good thing that we are together and we are a very good team.

Katie: Exactly. I'm sure getting used to living in a small space with totally new people is definitely something a little uncomfortable at first. It's been a while since I've lived in the dorms, but you guys are staying in Lawrenson. I lived there last year. It's really cute there. I like it a lot. It's definitely something you have to get used to though, living with multiple people. But I'm sure it's different than staying with your family or with your partners. It's a cool experience regardless.

Jelena: Just like Rita said, yeah, we are all adults and it's a great chance not just to learn about US and the US culture, but also we learn about each other. Most of the countries are very close. We know a little bit about each other, but this is a great opportunity to learn even more. So I can say that when I go back home, I have friends now. I can go to Hungary, I have Rita, I can go to Romania, I have another teacher there. I can even go to Tajikistan because we also have teacher from Tajikistan. People I met here in the US, I would definitely keeping in touch with them when I go back.

Rita: Yeah, we made lifelong relationships and friendships. I would say that and we help each other all the time. So for example, this morning when I was alone in my room, one of my flatmates came in and and she asked me if I was alone. And I told her, no, I'm happy with it because it's a quiet time for me. And there is another thing that there is a kitchen. So we always make something, especially me, because I like cooking. So the first time when I had chance to go to a supermarket, I bought a baking pan. I made a delicious cake and I could share with the others. But so far we are very busy with the program. We go on different trips. For example, we were in Denver. We visited the Denver Nature and Science Museum. We were in the Rocky Mountains for weekend. It was amazing.

Jelena: Yes, well, Peter and I decided to get up a little bit earlier and to try to reach one of the tops. We were in Estes Park, actually at YMCA there, and there was one of the peaks that we wanted to climb. We did it. We came back in time for breakfast to get our stuff from the room and to travel back here. It was really great experience. I mean, the altitude is very interesting because our country is different when it comes to altitude. Bosnia has amazing mountains and mountain peaks, but not

above 7000ft. And here you have fourteeners and just being at the altitude of 9000ft and above, it's a different experience for me, I enjoyed it, I didn't have much. Trouble breathing or stuff because they advised me to take a lot of water. I learned how to breathe properly, so it was amazing.

Katie: Yeah, when I first moved here, I grew up in Missouri and the altitude is 600, but then I moved here and normally it's 6000, and in the mountains it can get up to 14,000. Some people, when they move here or come from out of state or out of the country, they get altitude sickness and they get really bad migraines, or they feel very tired or fatigued. Thankfully, that didn't happen to me too much, but it does affect a lot of people.

Jelena: Yeah, I believe so, yeah.

Rita: In the morning we went in the Rocky Mountains. We want to see the sunrise with some of our friends and it was amazing. We sang and we danced, so it was really fun.

Katie: Yeah, the sunsets in Colorado are totally different. They're so beautiful.

Rita: Yes, they are.

Katie: And since you've been here for the past month or so, what has your schedule been like in Colorado? What have you been doing for the program?

Jelena: Well, most of the time we go to classes. We have four days of classes in the morning, and in the afternoon. We have media literacy, we have introduction to technology. We have principles of teaching and English as a foreign language. All of our teachers are amazing. They're really doing their best to teach us new things that we can actually use when we go back home. Talking about media literacy, we don't pay much attention to that back home. So that's something I want to try, I want to do, and I want my students to be more aware and media literate. We go on one of the schools during Tuesdays. Everyone has assigned teacher here in one of the schools in Greeley. My school is Greeley Central and I have amazing teacher Marissa Harwood. She is doing a really good job. I learned a lot from her in the terms of how to conduct a class, how to organize the time, how to deal with students, how to teach them generally. So I like her style of teaching. She will let me teach the lesson tomorrow morning. Actually, they went on a trip today to Denver as well to a museum and they will do some of the chat chit chat, how was it? And give the feedback. And then I'm going to teach something I prepared for them. She let me introduce myself and talk about my country and my culture. The first time I went to her class and the students liked it, they had some questions about my country as well. It's also interesting to see how things work here in the U.S in the terms of how classes are organized, how subjects are organized, what students can and can't do. So it's a little bit different, but yeah, not too much.

Rita: We call this fieldwork experience when we go to different schools on Tuesdays, and there are six schools involved in this program. So my experience in Greeley was, was amazing because I gave a presentation about Hungary the first time, and after week I gave lessons. I told the high school students, especially about Hungarian poetry, traditions, culture and they were really interested in it and I found the students very well behaved. There was another day when we went to Greeley West. It was the day called Diversity Day. We were ten teachers, one there and we gave presentations and also it was a workshop. Everybody could show the different culture, traditions, experiences about their home country. Some of us dressed in the folk costumes, others told the students how to dance the national dance, for example. I made them make a cockade, the Hungarian cockade, which is very famous in Hungary. We wear it commemorating the 1848-49 Revolution and War of Independence. There was a very awesome boy because after the workshop he came to me and he told me that he

knows a very talented footballer in Hungary. He lived in the 1950s. He was very exceptional football player Ferenc Puskas and he knew his name. He told me that he he came to my class because of him.

Katie: That's one of the funny differences between the US and only the US refers to football as American football. And everywhere else it's soccer. I think there are way more fans of football outside of the US. Soccer being football.

Jelena: Exactly, yes.

Katie: But in the US they're like football, American football. That's one of the biggest sports here.

Rita: And Jelena, you were on a soccer match.

Jelena: Yes. Actually no football, American football match. Our family who is in charge of us while we are still here, they want us to have fun. They want us to know about the life in the US and everything. So we got really great family. They took us to our first football game, their grandson plays for university and they took us to a football game there. They won. Of course, it was amazing to see how much attention you guys actually put into these games. And it's a complete show with cheerleaders with school bands and stuff. And the other day we went to Â鶹´«Ã½ Football game. The band was amazing. Cheerleaders. Unfortunately they lost, but that's a part of the game I guess. So apart from football, I know that Americans are also big fans of baseball. That's the game I haven't watched yet, but who knows, maybe by the end of the program I might even have a chance to watch that too. And we went to a volleyball game here at Â鶹´«Ã½. The girls were amazing indeed, and it's also a show. Maybe that's one of the differences. You guys make everything look amazing. Everything is a show, everything is fun to watch, everything is interesting, and people are not bored at any moment here because if there's a timeout or something, the cheerleaders hop in, the band comes at the half time. It has to be interesting.

Katie: Yeah, everything in America is loud and proud.

Rita: Yeah. That's true.

Katie: My little brother and my older, all of my brothers, I have many siblings. All of my siblings have played sports of some kind. I'm not really athletic, but I watched a lot of them growing up, and the local games are definitely more low key. But when you go to universities or big state games, they're crazy like you saw at the game with cheerleaders and they have band just playing music in your ear the whole time. It's really interesting to watch.

Rita: It is. Talking about cheerleaders, we just experienced yesterday when we were in Denver at the Regis University. There were cheerleaders supporting their team when they were on the arena competing with their robots.

Jelena: It was robotic competition back in Regis for high school students. One of our teachers actually supports one of the teams there. We went also to support them. Yeah, just like Rita said, they have cheerleaders and costumes and they made it look more interesting, even more interesting than it is. I mean, it's just enough to watch kids making these amazing robots. My mind was blown.

Rita: The atmosphere was just amazing. Talking about the sport, actually, I was involved in one of the yoga lessons. It was my first yoga lesson. My friendship family took me there and I really enjoyed it. And I decided that I will continue at home when I go back.

Katie: Yeah, yoga is a lot of fun. It's definitely more challenging if you're not flexible like me. I look a little silly when I do yoga, but it's very relaxing, especially in the mornings when you're just waking up. I enjoy it, I do that a lot.

Rita: And also we go to the gym regularly. I think all of us.

Katie: What are some similarities and differences between the education system in the US versus your home countries that you've noticed?

Jelena: First of all, teenagers are teenagers. Wherever you go, they are all the same. As for the educational system, it's quite different back in Bosnia Herzegovina than it is here. I understand that you have from kindergarten to 12th grade, but in Bosnia Herzegovina it is separated. Children go to kindergarten first, then they go to elementary school, which is from grade one to grade nine. Then they move to high school. So there is no middle school or something like that. They just have the period when they go from the first to the fifth grade. They have only one teacher there. From the third grade, they get second teacher because in Bosnia, students start learning English at the third grade. Then they moved from grade six to grade nine. They have multiple teachers there, different one for every subject. All subjects are mandatory, so they don't get to choose their own subjects. And when they go back to high school, they also have different teachers for different subjects. All the subjects are also mandatory and they don't get to choose their own timetable or subjects or something like that. We have different kinds of schools. For example, I teach in mixed school. It has, we call it gymnasium because it prepares students for general subjects to go to university, like med school or economics or law school or something like that. You have various subjects or four years like biology, chemistry, physics, geography, history. Then you get social studies, psychology and stuff like that. Then you have two languages, for example, in that kind of school, English. And in our country, it's French. Depending on schools somewhere you have German or even Russian or Italian. Then after they graduate from high school, which can also be vocational, then they have more specific subjects and you have three year vocational schools, which are supposed to prepare them for work straight from the school to looking for a job. After they finish, they can either choose to continue at the university or simply to do something else with their lives.

Katie: Interesting. You have a totally different layout for your education systems.

Rita: I would say some differences about the high school system, because a lot of high school in Hungary has a preparatory year. When the students study their language, I mean the second language, the foreign language, usually it is English. It is different in different high schools. So for example, in our high school, it is the English that we teach in an English preparatory class. And then after that comes the real normal. I would say that. At year nine and up to 12. So altogether they finish at the age of 19, and we don't have kindergarten because it is also separated like in Bosnia Herzegovina.

Katie: Gotcha. And since you've been in the US for a little bit now compared to your home countries, have you noticed any really big culture shocks? I know you mentioned, Jelena, that you didn't really have anything. Did you notice anything that really kind of weirded you out a little bit?

Rita: I would talk about the education. So for example, in our country, the music lessons, the instrumental lessons are in the afternoon in the same school where they are in the mornings in different classes, and in the afternoon they go to the music teachers. The music lessons are one by one. So one music teacher teaches one student in the afternoon. So I think it's really different in America because in America there are groups of students who study musical instrument from one

teacher. It is one of the main differences. We have different choirs at school for smaller ones and for just girls, for mixed choirs, radio choirs. So we have and besides this we have different faculties. The main faculty at the high school is the drama faculty. Our students study from the age of six until the age of 19. First they have elementary from 1 to 4 and then comes the primary part or middle school. You say middle school from five grade to eighth grade and then nine preparatory nine up to 12.

Katie: When I was in middle school. In elementary school, they did have music classes. They offered one choir class, and in elementary school that you could take violin class or viola class or keyboard. It was either musical classes or technology classes. You picked one or the other. I was more musically inclined than I was technology inclined. So I picked violin and viola and keyboard, and I would say they definitely stuck with me a lot. If I picked up a viola right now, I think you'd be proud of me. I could maybe play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. That's the best you could get out of me. But I did really like it. We never had anything where the lessons were one on one, though it was definitely in the class of students.

Rita: How many?

Katie: Oh, like 30 students at the same time. It's so loud. You just hear ERHHHHH on the violin all at once. Thankfully, the teachers were very good at being like, that's enough, that's enough violin for now. Let's take a minute. Put the violins down. Imagine that, but a bunch of elementary students with recorders, the little whistles that you blow into. That was my elementary education with music. It was just blowing into the recorders and playing hot cross buns. Hot Cross Buns was the only song we learned in elementary school. It was so loud, but having a classroom with so many students, especially really young ones that just want to play, it could be chaotic. So I can understand the appeal of having one on one lessons.

Rita: I can't imagine myself as a violin teacher here because I haven't used to teach violinist in this way.

Katie: Yeah, I think it's probably more beneficial to have a peaceful lesson with just one student than having a mess of 30 students all at once. I wouldn't say a mess, having a very loud classroom of 30 students.

Rita: And you can create a very deep relationship with your students if you have less than one by one.

Katie: Exactly. I went to a public high school, a public elementary school, and middle school. I would say the experience is definitely different if you go to a private school, because private schools have the funding where they can most likely do smaller, more one on one classes or private lessons that are accessible to those students. Since I went to a public education system, it's definitely very different.

Jelena: I agree with you. Well, one of the similarities that you asked earlier about school system and education system. We in Bosnia, we do have a lot of government funded schools, both elementary and secondary. Also, universities are state funded, but there are some private universities as well. What I noticed here is what impressed me the most is the fact that all schools are fully equipped with all kinds of stuff teachers need from the smartboards, music instruments, everything, everything they could wish for. They have it here. For us, It's a little bit more difficult than that, depending on what part of country we live in. I know it might be weird to mention it, but until recently I didn't have internet connection in my classroom. Even so, I had to use my hotspot from the phone to connect my laptop to show something to the students. This experience here was really

an eye opener, so I will try to find some funds to at least get some iPads or something for the students so that we can have more interactive classes where they can learn about media literacy as well. And I definitely think that thing will help them in their learning a lot.

Katie: Yeah, I think having the access to technology opens up a lot of possibilities in education. In America, there are certain areas that definitely do not have the funding. I wish in a perfect world we would be able to get more funding for every school. Greeley itself is a very good school where we have access to all of the technology needs that we use to educate the children. I know I grew up in an area that I did have access to that, but I know there are lots of areas in the state I grew up in where they didn't have the funding and they did not have the access to learn at the same level that other schools did. Having that abundance of accessibility to those education tools is definitely useful, and I hope that eventually it gets to the point where all schools are able to use those.

Jelena: Hope so too.

Katie: After taking your classes here and focusing on media literacy and technology and shadowing a few high schools and middle schools, what do you believe has had the most significant impact on your teaching?

Rita: Well, if I think about my shadowing experience in Greeley West, I would say that the technology that I would use more and in a more sophisticated way, she always prepares a worksheet for the students. So while she is teaching, she is also asking questions, thought provoking questions. There is conversation as well as the students speak, but they have to write down what they think. So if you write down something, maybe you have a deeper, more content based ideas about the question. I will take back this technique. I will prepare these worksheets every lesson because I can see how it works. And students were very enthusiastic to fill. So I think it's a great way.

Katie: Yeah, I think when children are in that developmental period and they're able to really put their opinion out there and speak about not only the content they're learning, but what they think about it as well. It definitely encourages them to want to learn more. Being able to put yourself in that scenario or learn about it in a way that helps you is just very useful. And there's also so many different ways of teaching. Some people are visual learners, some people are auditory learners. Some people need to do it to learn it. I think teachers are very honorable in the fact that they are able to work around each child and make sure they're able to learn, no matter the school or the country. They are able to learn it because they have that teacher willing to put in the effort.

Rita: And the other thing that I learned that they do, they write the essays during the lesson. If they couldn't finish, they can finish it at home, but most of the work was done during the lesson and they worked in groups. I observed how they could help each other. It was really a teamwork by helping each other. They also explained why that way would be the best idea.

Katie: Exactly, exactly.

Jelena: So that is something like collaborative writing. Yeah, we did these things. What I would like to apply more in my classroom per se is project based learning. I learned about project based learning a lot here. We did some project based learning activities as well. We got tons of useful materials we can use back home. We already made 2 or 3 maybe lesson plans already. I want to incorporate media literacy into existing curriculum. I don't know what it's going to take me and how much time I will need. I want to do it.

Rita: I also plan to give media literacy lessons for my students, and I was so planned a whole year for them, specialized in the subjects that we learned.

Katie: That's really cool. I hope the students are able to enjoy those lessons and really learn a lot from you guys as well.

Jelena: I don't know about Rita and Hungary and what is their education system like, but for example, in Bosnia we get the curriculum and we get the plans and lessons and everything prescribed already by the Ministry of Education. Teachers are not, well, we don't have too much freedom to make up something on our own, but there is 30% of space given to us so that we can manipulate or create some lessons ourselves. I have to stick to the book. They give it to us, but the methods that I teach, I can change that. So I see it as a great opportunity to make some changes.

Katie: Yeah. When I was in school, I did a lot of project learning and I think that helped me a lot. Rather than sitting and listening to a lecture, being able to work hands on and learn about the content really helped me when I was younger, and I hope it will help your students as well.

Jelena: Oh well, it will be something new and interesting for them, so I hope so.

Katie: Exactly. Once you're done learning in Greeley, are you going to continue the program in another US state, or are you going to be traveling home.

Jelena: After this part finishes at the Â鶹´«Ã½, which is almost two weeks from now, we go to Washington where we will get together with all the other teachers from Fulbright Program. Rita mentioned there are 6 or 7 universities that participate in Fulbright Program, and all of them host about 20 teachers. So totally, 160 of us will meet up in Washington in two weeks, and we will get to present something about our countries and cultures, probably share the experience from our universities where we stayed this time, and we will have gathering and also opportunity to meet other people from different countries. Because as I understand, there are also people from African countries as well in the program. We will see, we will learn when we go to Washington.

Rita: We will have a farewell ceremony here in the Â鶹´«Ã½. See, we would like to say thank you for the organizers and also the host university, the Â鶹´«Ã½O. We feel here like we were at home.

Jelena: We actually got the chance to become familiarized with local culture, especially before holidays. It was a brand new experience for us. We saw a lot of these things in the movies, you know, but it's completely different thing when you get to experience it personally. The student life, the football games, all the games, actually all that energy before the holidays and stuff. Completely different.

Katie: Yeah. You guys came during a really good time because it's fall and we celebrate all of our events with Halloween's coming up and we have Thanksgiving soon, and we have corn mazes and hayrides. I have gotten lost in my fair share of corn mazes. Not a fan, but they are fun.

Rita: And there was another very good concert and event last week that...

Jelena: Celebremos?

Rita: Celebremos we were together there. It was amazing.

Katie: Yeah. Â鶹´«Ã½ hosts a lot of really interesting and diverse activities for different cultures, and it was Diversity Day at Â鶹´«Ã½ recently. It's a lot of fun.

Jelena: It was actually our second concert here. The first one was Beethoven in the Rockies. It was really good to see Â鶹´«Ã½ students performing. It was a great honor for us as well. The second concert, also Â鶹´«Ã½ students were playing at the beginning. You guys rock.

Rita: Yes, and the Greeley Local Symphony Orchestra. The chamber orchestra. They are just amazing.

Katie: Yeah, they're really talented. There's a lot of wonderful athletes and writers and musicians all over the US. It's interesting. Even a small town has full of talented people. You can see talent anywhere you go.

Rita: And what I have learned here that you are actually so open. For example, the teacher in Greeley was one of the teachers invited us to her home. She's on a farm. And the other day we had a very good party there.

Jelena: It was something she actually wanted to do. So she invited you guys to learn something about you and your cultures and countries where you come from.

Rita: It was on a farm. It was amazing. In the evening we did bonfire with some...

Jelena: Marshmallows.

Rita: Marshmallows! Yeah. We roasted. How do you say that? Roasted?

Jelena: Roasted.

Rita: We roasted marshmallows.

Katie: Did you have S'mores?

Rita: S'mores? Yes. S'mores.

S'mores are such an American snack. It's not even a snack. It's like an outdoors activity. It's making the s'mores. It's so fun. It's one of my favorites. How has participating in the Fulbright Program at Â鶹´«Ã½ impacted your personal and professional growth?

Jelena: In my case, it had a great impact. Actually. It made me learn more about myself, how much I can put up with. I learned a lot of new stuff I can get to use. It will be a kind of a process. This program did me a lot of good. I'm looking forward to try something else. Because of the visa, we can't apply for the next two years, but in the meantime, I can get some more experience in other countries and maybe in three years try to apply again.

Rita: As a professional growth. I would say that I learned, although we are all different or we come from different countries on the educational level, we can learn from each other. We have grown in understanding and we are more empathetic towards each other and also towards each other's countries. In the future, we can build up new relationships. For example, we have been talking about Erasmus programs also to create together, and also we would like to maintain the relationship with the American students, the American schools, because we can do E-twinning programs or PenPal

programs. So we can do project based learning together with American and other country students. I would say that this Fulbright program is about understanding each other, building new relationships in the future, and teach the new generations how to live in peace with each other.

Jelena: Yeah, definitely. How to be tolerant, how to show empathy. It was an eye opener.

Katie: I can't wait to see. I want to stay in touch with you guys and hear the updates on how it's going with your classroom, and hopefully you guys are able to do the pen pal system between the kids, and I think they'll enjoy that as well. It's a wonderful opportunity to learn about other cultures and share about your own culture and your traditions and everything that you do back at home that may be totally different than what I know.

Rita: So you should come to Europe. You should experience the European way of life and culture. Yeah. So welcome you anytime in Budapest.

Jelena: If you ever get the chance to visit Bosnia, ring me up and I will set a private tour.

Katie: Thank you guys. That's awesome.

Jelena: Everyone is so welcoming here. Is it just Colorado? I don't know, but I love this country. Really. This part of US is really great. Â鶹´«Ã½ to everyone. They just made us feel as comfortable as we can. They are amazing.

Katie: For over 70 years, the Fulbright Program has provided thousands of teachers a brand new cross-cultural experience in teaching. Teachers will always find new and innovative ways to teach our children, no matter the country, state, or small town. A fresh and different way of learning is available within arm's reach. Today, we've learned a lot more about the education around the globe. As education continues to make changes. With time, people will follow, in turn taking even bigger strides to learn even more about the world around us. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of The Bear in Mind Podcast. I'm your host, Katie, and I hope you guys had a wonderful time. Bye!