Student Spotlight on Rachel Shen; Greenheart’s Newest Travel Correspondent in Canada

Greenheart Travel is excited to send a group of amazing travelers to study and volunteer abroad as part of our 2017 Travel Correspondent and Global Explorer Scholarship awards. To help introduce our inspiring writers, we are doing a series of spotlight interviews to help you get to know a little more about who they are, where they will be headed and what inspired them to travel abroad.

Read on to meet 18-year-old, Ruiwen (Rachel) Shen, our Greenheart Travel Correspondent from Houston, Texas, who’ll be traveling abroad to study French at our Teen Summer Language Camp in Canada!

Favorite thing to do in your free time? 

I enjoy photography, cooking, exercising, exploring, social events, and trying new things with my friends.

Have you traveled abroad before?

Yes! I have been to China and Costa Rica.

What got you interested in learning a new language and traveling abroad?

I have taken French throughout middle school and high school, and I wanted a first hand experience in the language.

What are you most excited about experiencing or seeing during your language camp?

I am most excited to meet new and diverse friends to improve my French and to also see the beautiful city of Quebec at my language camp. I want to explore the culture more firsthand.

Why do you feel it’s important to travel to a new place and learn a new language?

It’s important to travel to a new place and learn a new language to expand my view on the world. Different cultures allow people to understand each other better. There is direct translation between languages, and certain languages hold histories behind words. Learning a language can help me understand those who struggle with my native language.

What are you nervous about?

I am nervous about being in a completely new environment in a foreign country with a host family and speaking French with everyone around me.

How well do you speak a second language at this point?

I speak Chinese to a basic level since my parents spoke Chinese with me growing up. However, my French is very limited since I only learned about it through classes at school.

How do you think you will change the most during your time abroad?

 I think that I will be able to gain a first hand insight into a new environment, and I will be able to expand my view of other cultures in the world. I think that my French will definitely improve and as will my understanding for the Quebecois culture.