Who do you travel?-
For me, traveling is a way to learn new things about different cultures. In Pico Lyer's essay on traveling, he talks about the different kinds of travelers, different reasons why people travel, and what somone could get out of traveling.
Lyer says that "the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places, but in seeing with new eyes". I think that this means that instead of traveling somewhere and making comparisons to your home town, you need to learn how to see things as if you have never known anything else and try to accept it into your ways and thoughts. This can relate to me because when I travel (which isn't very much) I have gotten into the habit of thinking to myself "in grayslake, this is different" and "in grayslake we would never have that". I am going to break this habit completly on our trip :)
"What gives value to travel is fear". I thinkg this means that when people travel to new places, they are usually scared of what they find. That little andrenaline rush sometimes gives that person a "boost" and makes them try new things. Since I have never been outside of the country, that little boost will definatly play its part on the trip.
In Lyer's essay, he talkes about traverlers being a human "carrier pigeon", transporting ideas and culture from one society to another. Although I agree with this statement, I don't think travelers have a responsiblity to do this, it just sort of happens naturally. It is a good thing for people to share their own culture with the world and bring something new back home with them.
"Travel is the best way we have of rescuing the humanity of places, and saving them from abstraction and ideology" - Pico Lyer. This is my favortie quote out of this essay (besides the one I put in my title). I just feel that it applies to everyone. This quote, to me, means that in order for a country/state...etc to not bore people in it, someone has to spread different cultures around to different parts of the world so everyone can enjoy something different instead of the same thing they get everyday.
My full name is Kellie Elizabeth Lewis. I am 17 years old and I have always lived in Illinois. I am a junior at Grayslake Central, I play softball and I absolutly LOVE band! I mainly play the baritone sax but I can play alot of other insruments too. Some things you should know about me is that I am a naturally crazy weird girl. When I meet new people, I usually end up throwing my crazy right out on the table so people know what they are getting in to, but don't worry! I live with my mom, step-dad, and brother. My sister lives in Naperville with her boyfriend, and my dad lives in Newport, Rhode Island. Some random facts about me are that I love the packers, love eating sushi, and I have a dog named Tinkerbell (we didn't name her), a guniea pig named goober, and a turtle named Bubbles.
1)There are many reasons why I signed up for the course, but the main reason is that I have always wanted to go outside the U.S and learn about a different culture. This is the perfect way for my to do that, and have some fun along the way. I've wanted to visit many places but Australia was definatly my number one destination. I have had family members visit Sydney and Auckland and they have always told me "if you get the chance to go there, do it" and when I got the letter in the mail explaining the trip, I begged my mom to take my to the meeting. I signed up for this course to have the experience of a lifetime (which everyone has been telling me will definatly happen).
2)I would like to learn if the culture in Australia shares anything with the culture in the U.S (which I'm sure it does). I would also like know what some of the words they say mean. My grandmother told my that some things that they say mean something completly different, so I would like to find some of those things out. I am excited to see some of the wildlife that they have there. There is wildlife in the U.S but all we have are squirrels and deer :). I would also like to try some of there foods that they have.
3)What intrests me about Australia/New Zealand: for one things, its an island and I think living on a island would be awesome!! Another thing is all the wildlife and different plants and trees they have. I am sooo used to U.S animals/plants that I would love to seem some changes in scenery. What also intrests me is the accent. I know thats weird to say but I have always been fascinated with the accent and have always wanted to hear it "up close and personal".
4)I think that knowing about your destination before hand can give you a better understanding of it. If you don't know about a certain place and try to dive right in, you will spend you whole trip wondering about everything, rather than making great memories. It will also give you a better knowledge about certain customs that I country has. Lets say that saying a certain phrase hear that could mean something nice, means something completely different or rude in another country. I wouldn't want to be the person going around saying that all the time.
