Page 7 - Annual Report3

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Inspiring Innovation
Julio Obscura, a senior communications
major at Texas A&M International University,
experienced a profound awakening of his own
humanity when in 2009, as part of TAMIU’s
program, he visited Elmina
Castle, an old fort in Ghana used to transport
slaves to the Americas during the Atlantic slave
trade. “I wasn’t aware of that part of history,
which is incredibly important,” Obscura said,
“Knowing how the slaves got there made me
think why people treat another human being with
no dignity. That visit moved me so much and
made me start contemplating ideas about how we
treat people and life.”
Since catching a travel bug of sorts on that
memorable trip to Africa, Obscura has visited
a total of 40 countries to date, traversing from
Western, Northern and Eastern Europe, down to
Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey--solely relying on
good grades and StudyAbroad scholarship funds.
He said traveling has taught him to accept
others’ reality without judgment. “It has taught
me that we are such a small, absolute nothing
in this world and that we don’t know anything,”
Obscura said, “There are so many ways of
living out there and I learned to accept cultures,
religions and traditions the way they are, without
judging. I can admire them for what they are and
adapt to them.”
Obscura, who hopes to work as a photo and
video journalist in the future, has recently been
accepted for a Study Abroad program to study
Arabic at a Moroccan university in Spring 2014.
“I’ve been interested in Arabic culture, so I
decided to go to a Muslim country to observe and
learnArabic,” he said, smiling, “I will be returning
to Laredo two days before my graduation.”
To see more of Julio’s travel photography,
TAMIU Student Studies Abroad
,
Visits 40 Countries in Four Years
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