Blogging the World

In my opinion, reading travel blogs are some of the best ways to research a place before you visit. You get to read a personal account of someone who travelled somewhere with the idea in mind that they would find the best way to experience that place. I find that most travel blogs are actually realistic, but some do assume you have a lot of money and are looking for luxury rather than reality. This is why my favorite travel blog by far is Lonely Planet.

            Apart from focusing on backpacking and saving you money while experiencing the country as close to the way locals do, they also publish books. When I went abroad, these were my lifelines. Researching the country we were heading to beforehand was made ten times easier. These books can tell you everything, where to stay and what to expect, what and where to eat, prices you can expect to pay, how to bargain, the list goes on and on. The blog has a ton of information on nearly every country so researching before you even buy one of their books is a breeze. Its recent posts cover pretty much anything related to everything travel that I find to be not just informative but entertaining as well.

Even if you’re just browsing, Lonely Planet is a great resource for information on countries in general. Whether they are safe or politically stable and if you should even go there and what a viable alternative would be. I find it not only the best travel site on the Internet, but all around the best resource for a educated reasonable and realistic world traveller.

Homesick in America

For most people, home is where they are from. A hometown is a place special to everyone. You grow up there, the earliest memories of life were formed and the first friends were made. Everyone has different experiences, some move around a lot, some not at all. Everyone has without a doubt felt that feeling of finding himself or herself in a new place, unfamiliar and foreign. Whether that is in a different town, state or country being exposed to somewhere new puts you outside of your comfort zone. For many including me, we thrive outside the comfort zone. Going somewhere new is exciting and refreshing and we all know the feeling of realization about where you are and what you’re doing. I’m sure everyone felt that as they began freshman year at CU and even more so if you did a study abroad program. When you move somewhere either permanently or for an extended period of time, you recognize that you have a new home. My home is in Boulder, I spend the most time here and the majority of my belongings are with me. My home home is back in Parker Colorado where my parents lived. I have not lived there since 2009 I have only visited.

            Homesick in America presented the idea that transitioning to a new home is difficult. The task is made even more trying by moving to an entirely new country. It goes to show that just because you speak the same language, people are unique everywhere. By coming to America from England, it was shown that two countries although similar in many ways, are, when you really get down to it quite culturally different. For my study abroad program, I chose to do Semester at Sea, for 3 ½ months I visited 12 different countries including the United States. Nearly every week it was a new country, a new language and a new culture. Although we weren’t able to spend as much time as we wanted to in each port, we found the best ways to make due with the time we had.  It without at doubt changed me in many ways and proved that wherever you go, there will be similarities and differences and the ability to welcome those similarities and embrace the differences is what discovering a new culture is all about.