Traveling While Abroad
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Do you have plans next weekend? What are you doing over the break?
Normally, these questions are asked during the semester at Hope to see if I can visit a friend’s house or go skiing. When studying abroad, these questions included a plane ticket and a passport.
I would not consider myself much of a trip planner. I am typically a homebody who likes to stay home and work on classes or go to the gym. However, studying abroad in Chile pushed me to become a planner.
Chile is the longest country in the world and is home to a variety of mountainous landscapes and climates. I travelled to the Atacama desert in the north, to Patagonia in the south, and to the culturally rich island of Chiloé.
I have two pieces of advice for study abroaders.
- Allow yourself to say “yes.”
When you are in a new country and surrounded by a different culture, it can feel overwhelming at times, and traveling may even seem impossible. At Hope, my “free time” is usually filled with classes and on-campus responsibilities, not flying around the country. While studying abroad, I realized I didn’t carry the same commitments, and my academic load was lighter.
Traveling might feel outside of your comfort zone, but it’s worth giving it a chance. You never know, you might become a lifetime learning traveler!
2. Allow yourself to say “no.”
I love the story of an ambitious American traveling across Africa with local tribesmen. After three days of strenuous travel, the local men stopped and sat down by a tree. As the story goes, the American became incensed. “This is a waste of valuable time. Can someone tell me what is going on here?”
The translator replied, “They are waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.”
While there is a great value in visiting new places and see new things, there is no prize for seeing the most countries or buying the most plane tickets. One of my goals in Santiago was not just to travel, but to truly know the city. Rather than hopping to other countries, I wanted to recognize what a weekend in my host city felt like, how rainy days passed, and what the spring flowers smelled like.
My final thought is this: traveling is an incredible opportunity to explore new terrains and meet the people across God’s creation. At the same time, I highly recommend allowing yourself to feel bored in the city you live in and learning to enjoy what might seem mundane. In doing so, this new place can feel meaningful and familiar.
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