AHS Senior Purdita Irving travels the world

While most students at AHS have been long time residents of Aurora, Senior Purdita Irving has travelled and lived far beyond just the borders of Aurora. Throughout her lifetime she has lived in more places, due to her dad’s job, than most people have even travelled to, including living outside of the country, leading to her experience in different cultures more widespread than most.

Irving said, “I was born in Fort Riley, Kansas. From there I have moved to North Carolina; Fort Gordon, Georgia; Seoul, South Korea; Bamberg, Germany; and Baumholder, Germany.”

As expected with the amount of moves, Irving expressed that each move had it’s difficult points, but she was able to learn to adjust. While many students at Aurora have lived here for their entire life, imagine moving not once, but five times to a new place and learning to adjust all over again.

“I have yet to meet anyone that has had an easy transition from one place to another. All of my moves have been difficult at one point, but the only one that was difficult to adjust to was when my family returned to the United States. Because I was eight when we initially moved out of the country, I was able to grasp other cultures smoother than if I were older,” said Irving.

Having moved at least fives times, twice out of the country, Irving has experienced different cultures that are far different from those most Aurora residents are used to. She had commented that South Korea had been the most drastically different culturally compared to the other places she has lived in.

Irving said, “The culture in Korea was drastically different compared to Germany and the United States. In Korea, elders are more respected, and this is not limited to only senior citizens. Koreans use specific names/titles for any person that is older or younger than themselves. Bowing is also important and is a sign of respect. Beauty and healthcare are emphasized heavily in their society, and plastic surgery is sometimes a graduation gift for girls.”

Aside from different cultures, Irving also recalled that there were some language barriers that her and her family experienced while living in countries that did not have English as the prominent language. However, in most countries outside of the United States, English is taught in their school systems, which did help to dampen the amount of language barriers. Furthermore, Irving and her sister learned German in school while living in Germany and her brother learned Korean in high school in Korea, which allowed them to act as translators.

“Luckily, English was/is taught globally to children at a young age, so there was always someone that my family could communicate with if we had any trouble. Also, my brother was learning Korean at his high school so he acted as our translator there, and in Germany my sister and I had taken German classes thus making us the translators while living there,” said Irving.

As difficult as learning a new language is, Irving commented that although she is not completely fluent in German, she does know enough to be able to have a conversation in the language. As for Korean, she can understand a few basic words, but has taken the opportunity to further explore learning the language in the Independent Learning class last semester. Currently in the class, she is now focusing on German as she has had basic education in the language, which makes it easier for her to learn it on her own.

Irving said, “I want to learn Korean because I admire the country and culture. Learning Korean was extremely difficult because I had no prior background in the language except for the vowels, and one of the sets of numbers. Also, the alphabet is in Hangul, which is made of characters. German will definitely be easier for me to learn because I have two years worth of learned material from classes I took, plus experience speaking and listening to the language.”

After being able to travel and live in more than one place Irving hopes to soon visit South Korea again since it was by far her favorite place that she lived in. Not only just to visit, but Irving also hopes to someday be able to live there. As for all of the places she has lived in, there are still many more countries that she would like to visit and re-visit in the future.

Irving said, “My dream since a few years ago, was to go back to Korea and live there. I'm not sure as to how long, if it be for a year or for the rest of my life, but I have never enjoyed living in a place as much as I enjoyed South Korea. I would definitely love to visit all of the places I have lived before, specifically Kansas, North Carolina, and Georgia because I do not have as many memories from those times. I would also like to visit the United Kingdom, Amsterdam, and Jeju Island. I have never lived in those places but I either visited or heard great things about them.”

Given the opportunity to live in so many different places in her lifetime has exposed her to different cultures and languages than most people experience in a lifetime. While every move came with points of difficulty adjusting, Irving still hopes to be able to travel more in the future and as she stated, maybe even live in South Korea again one day.