Space Between Voices

Teaching has always been a reciprocal act - one where the lines between learning and guiding gently blur. This became profoundly clear during my time with the students of Block I at Open Campus (CIEE Amsterdam). Each session reminded me that education is not a one-way transfer of knowledge, but a dynamic exchange - a continuous unfolding of curiosity, insight, and transformation.

In this block, I was once again reminded that every group of students brings its own rhythm — their questions shape new answers, and their reflections often turn the mirror toward the teacher. My role was not just to instruct, but to create spaces for dialogue, emotion, and discovery.

One of the most enriching aspects of this experience was inviting inspiring speakers whose diverse lenses expanded our collective understanding.

Tuaca, with her remarkable ability to dive into the intricacies of mindmapping through the lens of personal growth and self-awareness, guided the students - and myself - into deeper terrains of introspection. Her session reminded us that learning is not only about connecting ideas but about understanding the mind that generates them.

Then came Olena, whose critical insights and thoughtful reflections on her country’s trials and tribulations illuminated the complex nature of resilience and identity. Her words carried the weight of lived experience and intellectual depth, allowing students to witness how perspective and pain can coexist as powerful teachers. Through her, we learned to look at conflict not only as destruction but also as a potential ground for renewal and redefinition.

Our site visit to Framer Framed offered yet another dimension of engagement - one rooted in feeling, history, and collective memory. We visited the exhibition Lawan! which drew attention to the legacies of post-colonial imperialist expansion in the Indonesian archipelago and West Papua. Featuring works by Watch65, Kevin van Braak, and Udeido Collective, the exhibition’s title - meaning “Fight!” - echoed through the space as a call to action against injustice in all its forms. It became a moment for us to reflect not only on global histories but also on our personal relationships to resistance, empathy, and responsibility. The visual and archival dialogues within Lawan! made space for a range of feelings - discomfort, compassion, and the awakening that comes from bearing witness to untold stories.

We concluded the block with Kerry, whose session brought a deeply personal touch to the students’ six-week journey in Amsterdam. His reflections on personal leadership and his simple yet profound reminder - “You are not your thoughts” - offered grounding perspective. It was a moment of stillness amid exploration; a call to separate identity from the chaos of passing thoughts and emotions.

Through all these encounters - Tuaca’s mindmaps of self, Olena’s courageous honesty, the voices within Lawan!, and Kerry’s mindful wisdom - I found myself learning alongside the students. Teaching becames an act of mutual reflection, where growth happens in all directions.

In the end, education reveals itself not as the accumulation of knowledge, but as the practice of awareness - awareness of self, of others, and of the interconnected systems we inhabit. True learning happens in the space between voices - where the instructor listens, the student questions, and both become transformed. Knowledge, then, is not a possession but a shared moment of consciousness - fleeting, humbling, and profoundly alive.