Hi Everyone!
It is time to kick start this blog again. I have just moved and that process took all of my energy. A big part of deciding to move was to start my travel blog up again. I needed the time to devote to this, and to make it a big part of my life. Something I didn’t have the time I wanted before. Traveling is my passion. Not just going to another place, but by entering another culture and being a part of another people’s way of life for a while. It has always taught me so much about myself, and so I think it is invaluable to our world today. Especially because our world is becoming so integrated. It is essential to have respect for all people, and one way to do that is to understand people from human being to human being. One of the best ways to do that is to stretch yourself and your personal limits through travel. Going to a different part of the world helps you to be able to relate to many different kinds of people. The more you do it, the farther out of your comfort zone you desire to go to.
After high school, I spent a year in Norway as an exchange student. It changed my life. All through my teenage years I was obsessed with other cultures….learning about foods, spiritual beliefs and daily life. I often pondered what would it be like to have been born somewhere else? What of my beliefs would be different, just by the location of my birth? Finally, after going to Norway I was able to experience that for myself. It was safe for me at that time, as Norway is not that different, demographically from the US, but I was in for such a surprise. It was so hard being thrust into a new environment where you don’t speak the language and where you don’t know a single soul. But it was also exhilarating! It was a chance for me to be ME. No one knew me there, so I was able to be myself to the fullest extend. It was liberating! At the same time, I was like a sponge, soaking up the culture and the language and knowing for the first time what it was really like to be in a different environment. It was challenging in so many ways, but I had never felt so ALIVE!
Due to my experience in Norway, I got the travel bug and I got it bad! Sadly I didn’t have the economic means to be able to travel far, so I did what I could do. That landed me in Arizona on the Navajo Reservation. I lived with 2 elders there from a community where they were fighting against forced relocation by the US government because their land sits on top of natural resources (this could be a whole other blog!). I spent 5 months there. It was more challenging because it wasn’t anywhere NEAR demographically the same as the US. First of all they didn’t speak a word of English (And I didn’t speak a word of Navajo). Secondly, they were a lot older than me. Thirdly, I worked as a sheep herder, which I had never done in my life. Also, we lived 25 miles from the nearest phone. There was no heat, electricity, running water or refrigeration. It couldn’t have been farther from my life…..but I relished being there. I felt alive and invigorated. It tested my limits physically, emotionally and spiritually. I changed so much from that experience, that since then, I have always craved these kinds of cultural exchanges.
From my experiences, I have always felt that people other than me could really benefit from this. That if they could see the reality of people from different cultures, that it could change their lives. It could broaden their world view, and in some small way change attitudes. If more attitudes could change, the more respectful our world could become…what a change that would be.
So this is what has lead me to this place. My desire to experience more of the world through travel and cultural exchange with others! So I hope to do justice to this blog by sharing with you my dream places to go and share my experiences with the places I do go…even if it is just another town over.
Enjoy!
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