Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” As the languid summer draws to a close and another Fall Semester approaches, I allow myself to gratefully reminisce on how the U gave me the opportunity to experience this firsthand through its study-abroad program.
I participated in two intensive Spanish language programs, one in Oviedo, Spain and the other in Valparaiso, Chile, and my decision to do so was one of the best life choices I have ever made. I had been taking Spanish classes since high school, and though I enjoyed the classes and the feeling of speaking another language, I was often frustrated. After years of classes, my Spanish was still más o menos. Fortunately, I picked up a brochure at the study-abroad fair that changed my life. I eagerly signed up for the Oviedo exchange program. Finally, after months of saving and nervous expectation, I touched down in Madrid and began my first of many journeys overseas.
After a five-hour bus ride, I met my host mom in front of a grand cathedral. We exchanged introductions and were both equally exuberant to be communicating on a level that exceeded both of our expectations. After a breathtaking sunset over the rolling green hills of Asturias and a 10 p.m. feast, I hustled off to bed. However, my jet lag and the exhaustion of traveling couldn’t overcome the eager anticipation for school that kept me wide awake almost until dawn, a feeling I hadn’t had since the night before the first day of elementary school.
The education I received was fantastic. Every day I learned so much about Spanish language, culture, politics and history, all while sharing my experiences and finding out a good deal about myself. I would awake to the sound of my host mom Josefina calling my name8212;pronouncing the “J” as a “Y”8212;and I’d rise with a huge smile on my face, partly from the still-clear memory of the dream I had in Spanish the night before and partly from the endless potential for knowledge that the new day held.
It was in this fashion that the days passed by until the end of the program. Josefina bid me farewell with kind words, a delicious bocadillo and dark brown eyes filled with tears. I thanked her for the hospitality, still amazed at how much my Spanish had improved. After six weeks of traveling through Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany8212;where the learning continued outside of the classroom8212;I returned to the United States with little money and no regrets.
Now, after traveling to five continents, I have learned a great deal. However, for the most part, it has not been learning in the traditional, “2+2=4” sense, where everything learned comes with a certificate of authenticity. It has been a form of learning that has required me to forget many of the things I thought I knew for certain.
Socrates said, “True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.” My firsthand validation of this concept through traveling was indeed a humbling experience. I was taught growing up that the United States has historically been the protector of and refuge for freedom. However, in Chile, my host mom told me horror stories about how her close relatives were brutally tortured and became the “disappeared” that characterized the fascist rule of Augusto Pinochet. Upon realization that the CIA collaborated with the military junta to overthrow the democratically elected government, I was forced to re-evaluate this childhood image.
Seeing the marginalization in South Africa, where a largely white 1 percent of the population holds 99 percent of the wealth, forced me to rethink racism in contemporary society and my conception of social stratification. More confounding was the sight of shantytowns outside of Mexico City, where raw sewage mixed freely with water used for drinking. The people literally live in the shadow of the homes of their ancestors8212;the astronomically aligned temples of the sun and moon in Teotihuacan. The fact that the Mexican people went from living in glorious temples to abject poverty only created more questions about the nature of the so-called “civilization” introduced to indigenous peoples across the world.
I came back from my travels with more questions than when I left. It was the U’s study abroad program that introduced me to Socrates’ idea of knowledge, and I have never looked back.
It is in this spirit that I challenge and encourage you to participate in the U’s study-abroad programs and independent travel. Attend the study-abroad fair in the fall and consult the friendly people at the Union’s International Center with questions about such things as financial aid and program eligibility. Leave your stereotypes at home and embark on your own journey that will bring with it the bright promise of opportunity as well as the self-reflection necessary to find out who you truly are and where you are going, for as Saint Augustine said, “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”
John Stafford