We are currently on day 5 of 6 on our way to Mauritius, and as I sit here I realize that I'm over the half way mark in every way possible. I have more countries behind me than in front of me. There are more days behind me than in front of me. There are more class days behind me than in front of me.
Where did time go?
I know I have not been the best blog updater, and I haven't updated in awhile, but I think it's important that I talk a little bit about Burma and India. (I am also procrastinating)
Recently my social psych professor said that we shouldn't try to qualify our time in each of these ports. If we try to explain why we loved a place, or why we loved a certain experience, we often cannot put into words what we truly feel. Either we don't know what we're feeling or we don't know why we feel the way we do. If we try to use words to explain, we use words that can't properly state how we're feeling. Why did I love Burma so much? Why did l love India so much?
I have this thing where I'm trying think of a word that describes my time in each country, and I feel like it is a good compromise between trying to share how I feel without ruining my experience by trying too hard to explain how I feel. For Burma, my word is serene. I spent most of my time in Inle Lake, and the entire time I just felt a sense of peace. For India, my word is lively. The crazy tuk tuk driving, the crowds, the yelling, the colors...everything just screamed alive. And although Burma has a place in my heart forever, India got it beating like no other place has.
We have this thing where after each port there is a "post port" reflection. I've been to almost every single one, and each time I leave slightly frustrated but also enlightened. Frustrated because people seem to complain if things don't go their way. Enlightened because it often makes me realize how I feel.
I didn't even want to go to the "post port" for India--I didn't want to hear anything bad that people had to say. But of course I went anyway. People complained about the trash. People complained about not getting things for as cheap as they wanted to. People complained about the fact that people were overcharging them because they were "white Americans who are wealthy". And the entire time I felt so frustrated. How can people feel this way after leaving a place so alive? How?
We come to these places expecting to get things for dirt cheap. And sometimes we do. But when we don't, we think we're getting ripped off or cheated.
What we don't think about is that these people we are buying things from have a life to live as well. They're trying to make ends meet. They're trying to feed their children or keep their shop open. They're not here to please us at all costs. We're the ones who are guests, and bargaining with them is a social interaction that we signed up for. And when you decided that yelling over 50 rupees (1 dollar) is a good idea, you've lost what you've come here for--learning, interacting, socializing, being outside of your comfort zone, compromising, laughing, loving.
There was a time when I referred to myself as getting "ripped off". A tuk tuk driver who had been with us all day told us he would charge us $10 each for the day and decided at the end of the night to ask for $80 all together. It was just another girl and I, and we decided that since it was nightime, and no one else was around, we would just pay the money to get out of the situation. And I was mad. This was money that I could've spent on something else.
While at post port, a professor said something that really stuck me him. He said "How much does it cost us to go to the movies? To drive to the theater, to buy the tickets, to buy our favorite snacks and a drink. How much does it cost?" In my head I'm trying to do the math. Well, if I go with both my parents that's automatically $30 for just our tickets. Driving there? Well, it takes about 30 minutes to get to the nearest movie theater, so there's that cost. What if I want popcorn? Another $7 or so. And a drinks for all of us? Add $20. Licorice? $5. Right there thats nearly $70, and that was just a leisure activity.
So yes, I paid more than I originally thought we had agreed on. But I could spend the same amount on a piece of jewelry and not really think twice about it, or be angry about it. This guy had been with us all day, he had driven us all around (even to places we didn't ask to go), and I think he was generally concerned with whether or not we were having a good time. He had a house, two kids, and a wife to look out for. So the $40 I contributed to the $80 "tuk tuk fund" really was not worth getting angry over. It happened. And he can do a lot more with that money than I can.
One of our Dean's said something on the first day, and I constantly think about it. He said that "One percent of the world gets a college education. One percent of the world gets to travel. And you are doing both." So even though Semester at Sea has been years in the making for me, and we have taken out a loan to pay for this journey, I am already wealthier and luckier than a significant population of this world. Yes we are all on budgets and don't have money to "blow" in all of these countries, but we're here. And just by being here we're extremely fortunate.
As I travel around the world I'm learning lessons that I didn't know I would learn. Friends and I have been talking a lot about going home lately, and what that will be like. I think that's when the biggest change will come--right now everything is normal. All 1000 of us on this ship are going through the same thing. But back at home I'll be leaving this ship of comfort, this place that has become "normal".
So when I come back, what I'm asking for is patience. Sometimes I may not be able to describe what I'm feeling and at other times I may tell the same story over and over again. There are going to be pictures that seem insignificant to you, but will probably be my screensaver for the next couple of months. There are inside jokes that I may blurt out thinking someone will understand, but no one will. Laugh anyway.
To all my friends who have studied abroad. I promise you the same. I promise to listen to your stories and look at your pictures and not roll my eyes when you tell me the same story I know I've heard before. I promise to ask questions and to genuinely care. Because our adventures are our adventures for a reason. They make us who we are and who we are becoming.
I also promise to try to blog more, but this six day stretch in between India and Mauritius is going by way too fast. I haven't caught up on my journal, I have a paper due, I have a midterm, and that's just tomorrow.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that this is school as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment