Traveling offers many benefits, which are difficult to find in other experiences.
Taking the opportunity to travel is valuable and impactful for many reasons.
Traveling allows for reflection, personal growth and the broadening of perspectives as well as the creation of lifelong friendships and memories.
The advantages of traveling can be gained from any type of trip, whether that be a last-minute adventure to a local site or a yearlong planned vacation to another country.
In either case, you are learning things not only about yourself but also the world outside of Auburn or wherever you call home.
When it comes to traveling and expanding our borders, many people think you should wait until you’re older.
However, there is no point in waiting. Start now.
Julia Dickenson, sophomore in undeclared sciences and mathematics, has traveled to Mexico, Haiti and Peru and said that college is the prime time to travel.
“We’re in a time when we can travel and it won’t put our lives on hold, whereas if you get a job, it starts to get harder and harder to take off,” Dickenson said.
Traveling can help in becoming more open-minded, according to Dickenson.
“[Traveling] makes you more well-educated and less prone to being prejudiced,” Dickenson said.
Angelique Moore, nutrition and dietetics graduate student in programming, will be traveling to Italy this summer.
Traveling is worth the price, Moore said.
“You can use your student loans,” Moore said. “Use them on something that you can actually look back on in life and say, ‘That was cool, and I hope my kid does that.’”
Traveling will allow you to discover just how little you know about the world.
You will see wonders, hear sounds and taste cuisine you can only experience in other parts of the world through travel.
Rosetta Giuliani-Caponetto, associate professor of foreign language; Anna Chiafele, assistant professor in foreign language; and Rachel Perry, lecturer in foreign language, alternate in leading study abroad trips to Italy.
Giuliani-Caponetto said after the students arrive in Italy and they drive to the top of the mountain where there is a clear view, they are in astonishment by the beauty.
“When they open their eyes, they are in awe,” Giuliani-Caponetto said. “It’s just amazing because everything — the historical aspect, the nature, the landscape, the sea, the colors, the smell — everything comes together.”
Traveling makes people extremely marketable because employers know that they can handle difficult situations, Giuliani-Caponetto said.
“When you come back, you feel invincible,” Giuliani-Caponetto said.
Chiafele said she notices that her students who study abroad become more confident.
Perry said people gain more independence when they study abroad.
“That independence in a place that makes you sort of fight a little bit is what I think is really important,” Perry said. “It’s asserting yourself in a place that you would not normally.”
In addition to helping you understand the world around you, travel can also help you understand yourself.
Traveling offers so many experiences that it can help define your purpose.
You will meet so many new people, cultures and lifestyles that you will be viewing other people’s lives from a different perspective, which can help in clearing up your own goals and dreams in how you want to make your mark on the world.
When you travel, you will begin to see the world as a beautiful place, which needs to be protected and taken care of.
You will see that humans around the world are more similar than you think, and you will see life as a gift that should be cherished.
Dickenson said traveling has made her realize that she shares a lot more in common with people of different cultures than she originally thought.
Having worked closely in Peru with translators, Dickenson said it was cool to talk to them about their differences, and how they grew up.
“We always found out that we’re a lot more similar than we thought,” Dickenson said.
Amanda can be reached at intrigue@ThePlainsman.com.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
