Exploring the World Through Nan Jordan’s Eyes
Emma Holland | November 8, 2023
Global Engagement Fellow Nan Jordan sits in the lobby of the log cabin on a warm sunny afternoon, shifting from talking about her upcoming birthday to her recently acquired job with the Warren Wilson College (WWC) engagement office. This past fall, she moved across the country and began working with the college’s current and future exchange students. Movement is at the core of Jordan’s life.
Jordan grew up in a very “travel-positive” household, getting her first passport at one year old to visit her grandparents in Ireland. With her family, she traveled for a month every summer to Ireland to see her grandparents.
Jordan’s mother helped to run the study abroad program at a university when Jordan was growing up, giving her a broad range of opportunities to travel to new places with her mom; one such example being India. Jordan said she would love to be able to go back now and experience India as an adult, as she feels she did not get to fully enjoy it as a kid.
Since she started traveling at a young age, Jordan said she has not stopped. Her first time traveling abroad without family was a trip to Brazil with her friend and her friend's family while she was in high school.
Jordan attended college for her undergrad at SUNY New Paltz in New York and then went on to do her master’s at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
After her freshman year of college, Jordan did a month-long program in southern Italy with her favorite professor. After transferring colleges, she decided to do a semester away in the Czech Republic. As a final hurrah, she went to the Dominican Republic for a faculty-led course during grad school.
Jordan said that when she graduated in 2008 she struggled to find a stable job because of the recession. Because of this, she ended up moving with a friend to Ecuador where she lived for several years.
After moving back to the U.S., Jordan worked as a school social worker in K-12 education before joining WWC. This is her first time working in higher education. She is enjoying her time here working with the global engagement office as well as leading an English language course for English as a Second Language (ESL) students. She said she has made many new connections through her position and is getting the full Warren Wilson experience. Though her contract is only for a year, Jordan said she would love to spend more time working at WWC with the global engagement staff and crew.
Jordan said she has noticed that many people are intimidated by the thought of traveling abroad.
“The first time you go by yourself somewhere and you have a great adventure, you meet people and you do it, all those things that you're scared about you push through and you have an amazing time. It makes you want to keep going,” Jordan said.
Jordan feels like traveling abroad is an amazing experience and can expose someone to many different people and cultures. She views traveling as a vital part of shaping a person. Even staying within the United States, there are many different climates and cultures to experience.
WWC has started to open up travel opportunities within the United States through its recent announcement of the mountain term. The mountain term is a series of faculty-led courses similar to those the college offers abroad. The key difference is that these courses are located within the United States.
A big part of the fear many people have relating to traveling abroad is the language barrier, Jordan said. She recommends Ireland as a great starting place for traveling abroad. In Ireland, there is not a language barrier but it is still different enough from our culture and climate to have a great new experience.
Another place she would recommend to someone new to traveling globally would be Costa Rica. She said it is not intimidating to non-Spanish speakers as it is very tourist friendly, and that it is not a great distance away.
Jordan views traveling abroad as a great tool for learning: she believes it helps expose people to new and exciting situations in a safe and productive way. Warren Wilson has many opportunities to travel, both inside and outside of the country through its faculty-led courses, semesters abroad, summer trips and the upcoming mountain term. In her global engagement fellow role, Jordan helps students explore all of these opportunities.
Jordan’s office is currently located in the global engagement office. She said she would be happy to help students explore WWC’s study abroad programs further.