Greenheart Travel

Tag: Meet the Staff

Meet the Greenheart Travel Team: Allison Yates

Meet Allison Yates, Greenheart Travel’s High School and Short-Term Abroad Programs Coordinator!

Allison was 16 year-old when she took her first trip abroad, where she participated in a mini-exchange with a high school in Billericay, England. She graduated from Indiana University with degrees in International Studies, Spanish and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.

She studied for a year in Buenos Aires, Argentina; taught English and was an au pair in Ibiza, Spain; and worked in Melbourne and Darwin, Australia, which explains why she has the habit of drinking mate, eating dinner late and signing off emails with “cheers.”

She’s traveled to over 30 countries and hopes to soon visit Brazil, India and South Africa. She also writes freelance about travel, women and society and in her free time loves listening to podcasts, belting her favorite reggaeton songs, reading anything fascinating, and trying to learn social Latin dances.

Read on to learn a bit more about Allison’s favorite cuisine, aha moments while traveling and which spirit animal she resonates with most.

Q: Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Fishers, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. It was a very quaint childhood, something my foreign (or even sometimes East Coast/West Coast) friends tend to laugh at – it was the stereotypical “American” high school experience.

Q: What is your favorite international city?

I feel like I’m cheating on Buenos Aires (one of my most favorite cities in the whole world) by saying this, but Istanbul is a place I was so impressed by. I only got to stay for five days, but it would take five years to see all of it! I loved the food, the river, the colors, the diversity and the goofy people I met.

Q: What is your secret talent?

Some people in the office have participated in eating competitions and aren’t aware I also have a competitive spirit when it comes to food. I once ate an entire watermelon in a matter of minutes and won a medal (it was on a cruise, but let’s say it still counts as a legit competition!).

Q: If you could eat only one country’s style of food for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Spanish food! While in Spain I lived with a host family and never tired of some of their favorites. First, the ultimate charcuterie board: dates, olives, cheese, breads and sausages (I’m a big fan of chorizo, and a special sausage from Ibiza called sobrasada). Plus, mussels in garlic sauce, tortilla española, and every version of a rice dish you could imagine. Maybe I could sneak in more avocados and then I’d be really happy.

Q: Complete the sentence: When I grow up I want to __________.

Be an expert in a certain part(s) of the world, and be sent there to write (or “report on”) about it.

Q: What is your spirit animal?

Based on my tendencies to be startled easily and jerk my head at sudden noises, I think I’m most connected to the murcat.

Q: What is your favorite travel “AHA! moment” or memory?

This is hard one to choose, but one moment I’m grateful I witnessed was a pre-wedding hammam ceremony in Fez, Morocco. I happened to visit a hammam on the same day of the ceremony. As the only non-wedding party person there, they invited to join in all the festivities. I was singing and dancing with a bunch of strangers and really had no idea what was happening – but it was amazing!

Q: What is your favorite thing about working for Greenheart Travel?

Everyone at the office has a great sense of humor. Besides that, the office itself has a warm atmosphere. It’s decorated with world maps and “wanderlusty” posters, so I feel right at home.

November 8, 2017
How Teaching in China Changed My Life

I made one of the biggest decisions of my life because my college professor decided that she didn’t “feel” like doing the whole teaching thing one day and cancelled class. Faced with an extra 4 hours, I had an epiphany. I did not know what I was going to do with those extra hours and I also had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. This reality was a bit jarring, so I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone. I went directly to the computer lab and used my new found freedom to determine the path for my post-college life…or at least the year following college.

After scouring the internet for a couple of hours, I realized that:

a) I wanted to live abroad again
b) I wanted to live in a non-western country, where I would also feel safe
c) I wanted to work, not continue my studies, and
d) a little spending cash wouldn’t hurt.

So what does that spell? T-E-A-C-H-I-N-G I-N C-H-I-N-A!!! or at least it did for me.

As soon as the idea hit me, it was like a weight had been lifted. I’ve never been as sure as anything in my life and that certainty was liberating.

By April, I was officially accepted to teach English in Hunan Province and mentally I was ready to go immediately. Unfortunately for my impatient self, I had to wait until August to leave. This was a great first lesson in flexibility. When you are living abroad (specifically in China) you have control and power over nothing. Once you give into that notion, you stop thinking about how things should be, and just start enjoying the way things are.

While I was eating the most delicious food in the world amongst rice paddies, my friends back at home were struggling to be hired at entry-level jobs they didn’t even like. Their choice to stay at home was more comfortable, but I was living a “choose your own adventure” book. Every morning, I thought to myself, “what crazy Chinese shenanigans, will I get into today? And every night I wasn’t disappointed.

The experiences I was allowed and the people I met were so enriching that 7 years later they continue to have an incredible impact on my daily life. I taught over 800 Chinese kiddos how to sing “you are my sunshine”. I considered snake to be a staple at meals. I traveled. I had conversations in Mandarin. I eavesdropped on other people having conversations in Mandarin. I slept in a dining car for an 18 hour train journey…and liked it. I connected a history class at my Alma mater high school with one of my English classes, so they could be pen pals. I judged karaoke competitions. I played ping-pong. I made friendships with some of the most fascinating, caring, engaging, and coolest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

It’s more than experiencing a different culture. It’s about connecting with people whom you initially didn’t understand… on any level. But once you break through those communication barriers, it’s difficult to come up with a feeling more satisfying.

The rewards of teaching in China didn’t end when I left. Every one of my employers mentioned that my stint in China made me stand out among the other applicants. Their reasons varied, but the outcome was the same. I was hired.

If I had to do it all over again, I would do everything the same way. Teaching abroad was absolutely life-changing. It made me attractive to employers, allowed me opportunities to travel, and gave insight into an amazing world I would otherwise have thought of as just another place on the map. China gave me the gift of never again seeing places as the “other”, but instead seeing them as other cool areas to discover.

August 25, 2017
Meet Shanelle, Our New Greenheart Travel Intern and Expert on China

At the Lin Family Mansion and Garden in New Taipei City, Taiwan

Hello!

My name is Shanelle Glanville and I’m the new Marketing and Outreach Intern at Greenheart Travel.

I’m currently a senior at Northwestern University majoring in Asian Studies, and over my time there I’ve studied abroad three times: in China, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Climbing the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu

Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing about my past four years of college, but I have to say that things turned out much different than I had originally planned. I came to college intending to be a Cognitive Science major, specializing in linguistics and artificial intelligence. However, since I’ve always loved languages, (first trying—and failing—to teach myself Japanese in 7^th grade, and then going on to study Spanish and Latin in middle and high school), I decided to start taking Chinese on a whim.

We received a crash-course in teaching English and then taught for a day at a Buddhist high school in Hualien, Taiwan (note: teaching is hard)

I ended up falling for it harder than I expected, and during the summer after my freshman year I studied abroad on a green energy technology and policy program in China. It was my first time in a non-English-speaking country, and halfway across the world at that. I could only understand about 20% of the words spoken around me, in certain places people stared at me as if I were an alien, and within 48 hours of my arrival, I was faced with two choices: become a chopsticks expert, or starve.

I loved it.

Playing with perspective at the Trick Eye Museum in Seoul, South Korea

Before I even left China, I knew that I was hooked: I told my friends there that I was coming back next year. Soon after I got back to the U.S., I decided on a summer program in Tainan, Taiwan, and then to fly from there to Seoul, South Korea for the fall semester.

My language partner/best friend in Taiwan, who surprised me with a scrapbook at the end of our program (one of my most prized possessions)

My study abroad experiences have been perhaps my most formative, and I now believe that intercultural exchange is not just valuable but in fact integral to our modern global community. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, I think that the ability to reach mutual understanding becomes increasingly important as well; in the future, I hope to work towards that in some capacity, though I don’t know exactly how yet. I’m really looking forward to learning as much as I can in my time at Greenheart Travel!

March 10, 2016