Salvador tomorrow!

At the equator! I read something really interesting today about a study done through reading journals of students who traveled all throughout Europe. The teacher observed that many of the students observations were superficial and that they didn’t interact much with locals. In fact most of their time traveling was spent running from city to city as they tried to pack as much as they could into their experiences on the weekends,something that seems to be distinctly american. They were rarely just enjoying what they were doing. While the teacher said the students didn’t learn all that much about the cities they were in, they did grow as people. Because the students were always traveling, they were constantly confronted with challenges and problems to solve, where to go, to stay, what to eat, how to get there etc. In trying to solve these issues, the students unknowingly engaged locals and had to figure out how to understand them. The students ultimately became more adaptive and self-confident because they had to “cope with the surprises, the inevitable problems that arise when traveling, and doing without the comforts they were accustomed to at home” (Gmelch). Looking at what I have planned now, it makes me a little sad that so much of what I am doing in these cities is planned. I want to be confronted with these problems, just to see if I can get over them. Israel was my first real experience planning something on my own at the end of my trip. But even then, we didn’t really explore as much as I would have like, and we depended on the soldiers we met to get us around. I want to be pushed and hopefully I will be able to get lost a little, find my way, and cope. I want at the end of this journey to say that I am more flexible, self-confident, and more empathetic.

Can't wait for Salvador and Rio!!