Traveling

“ Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” - Gustav Flaubert.

Traveling adds value to one’s life. Near or far, it doesn’t seem to matter. By experiencing a new place, one can see new places and try new foods, you may learn to see from a new point of view and you can better understand that people are people no matter where they are from. In May 2018 I had the opportunity to travel to Europe with my school’s choir. We traveled to Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris and made a few stops to smaller towns along the way. This was my first time to Europe and I already could go back.

The first excitement for someone who travels is to see all of the famous places and views they have seen in movies or pictures all their lives. There is such a great experience that comes from seeing something on a digital screen all your life to finally being right in front of it. The history and beauty that comes from most settings in Europe is breathtaking. Another thing you must do when traveling is eat a large amount of good food. I am not shy about it, I love food! Traveling in Europe gave me so many chances to try new things. For example, the Belgian waffles were to die for, the coffee in most places was amazing and the fries in Amsterdam were incredible. Getting to experience new and old foods alike was amazing and it taught me a lot about what people eat in Europe and what I wish we had in America! Most of the food was less sweet which seemed strange at first, but for health reasons I wish Americans didn’t put so much sugar in everything. It makes you realize that you don’t need that sugary of food and that you might just be alright without it.

If you have lived in one place your entire life, you may have a little bit of perspective. You have different people in your city and some may live a little differently than you. However, when you move or travel somewhere new you find there are so many more opinions, views and ways of living life. College was the first step for me to see a new point of view. There were a lot of people, ideas and opinions that I had never seen or heard before. College gave me a space and time to figure those emotions out and figure out what my beliefs were. Traveling allows you to see new points of view all the time. Going to Europe allowed me to be around different cultures and different ways of life. Everyone in Amsterdam bikes everywhere. Restaurants in Europe don’t give you free water. In most public places you have to pay to use the restroom. Traffic laws are monitored in most places by video cameras. All of these things, big or small, played in to the experience I had and allowed me to see a new way of living. Sometimes we can get so set in our ways that we can’t possibly fathom any other way of doing things. And although these things were different, we ended up getting used to living that way pretty fast.

One of the biggest things I learned while traveling is that people are people. Before I left for the trip I remember being a little nervous about the people in Europe and how I would communicate. Luckily, most places we went to spoke a little bit of English. Even beyond that though, I quickly realized that people are people no matter where you meet them. They still have the same needs for water and food, they still need love and community, and we are all more similar than we think.

If you get the chance, travel somewhere new. Even going to a new state can bring great experiences and opportunities to learn more about yourself and about the people around you in this world. Expanding your mind and point of view can be a vital skill and can help you connect with people better.