An interview of Henry Whitesides completed by Sabriya Dobbins

Raised in a small town outside of Charlotte, NC called Belmont, Henry always had curiosity about the world around him. He remembers growing up watching the Travel Channel and National Geographic. After traveling on family vacations to places like the Bahamas as a child, Henry knew he wanted to try even more experiences. He received that chance during his senior year of high school when he came across several international exchange students and past American exchange students. After, talking with them and learning about the exchange process, he realized that this dream was actually a possibility for him to achieve.

One day, when walking to a classroom, he overheard one of his American friends, named Eddie, talking in fluent German with several other German students. He was in shock, curious to know how Eddie knew so much of another language. Turns out, Eddie had completed an exchange to Germany allowing him to experience total immersion in the language day in and day out. At that moment, Henry knew he had to do the same.

After lots of convincing his parents to ease their concerns, he had the opportunity to live in Germany for a year with a host family to complete a second senior year of high school prior to leaving for college.

“Germany taught me that I was capable of a lot more than I thought I was. I was one of the oldest ones in my program. There were kids there as young as 15.”

Living in NC his whole life, Henry had become accustomed to milder winters. One of his greatest struggles was the brutal winters in Germany. With only 12 hours of sunshine in February, he felt one too many of those brisk, cold days. Nonetheless, he persevered throughout his yearlong experience there.

Another obstacle he had to overcome was getting over his “Southern sensibilities.” He grew up being taught to say, “yes sir” and “yes ma’am” but the culture of communication was different there. Though Germans, did not spend the same amount of time on pleasantries, they had their own way of showing regard and being helpful to one another. Henry explained that though there are stereotypes that Germans are cold or not humorous, this simply is not the case. He had to open his limited views on what politeness truly meant. 

“I really do not like when people say an entire country is rude. They are rude on your standards. You are going to find saints and sinners everywhere you go. It is a matter of what is valued and what is taught as rude or polite in that country.”

After experiencing Germany, Henry returned to NC where he attended UNC Charlotte to double major in International Studies and German. He realized that he was so passionate about language, hence he took several courses in languages like Arabic and Mandarin. Before he knew it, he was headed to China on a summer study abroad experience. One of his biggest takeaways in China was:  

“We are all doing the same thing in different ways.”

He explained that people often visit China on a whim and usually have no idea how different it is. It was one of the most unique places he had ever been. Simple things like how the people communicated to the cultural nuances were so different from the American ways. He stated that one could feel like a, “Fish out of water.” After staying for a while, one could learn that even though a place is different from the outside, in the end we are all still people living our lives, he shared.

Henry has been to over 25 countries and counting. When asked about one of his highlight moments in his travels, he stated:

“I cannot think of a simply more influential part of the world than Israel.”

When exploring how traveling has impacted his mental wellness, Henry shared that he has stayed in countries long enough to get past the “honeymoon phase” thus he has seen things he did and did not like about a place. This gave him a more honest perspective. Since then, he uses those experiences to appreciate the good with the bad, shaping his general outlook on life.

Henry looks forwards to traveling to Egypt next!

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Project Passport is a mental empowerment retreat and event company created to help women connect with one another and gain the tools to improve their lives in the best way possible. Each retreat experience has a unique theme with carefully designed activities to help participants grow and experience transformation. We are making mental wellness the norm, one retreat at a time. Learn more at project-passport.com.