Final Words

From the moment I could write coherent sentences I considered myself a writer. I would write in my journal-write about my day at school with the mean girls, write about my parents fighting, write about my neighborhood crush, write about the sadness I felt while moving. I wrote it all. I suppose that in many ways I was a writer in my own right, and from being in this course I’ve learned that anyone can be a writer. Everyone has something valuable to say, something new to bring to the table, which is something I never considered before.

Over the past four months I’ve learned a lot about myself, as a writer and as a person. I was able to see that my words have the ability to entice emotion, support change and express my beliefs. Before. my writing was souly a personal outlet, but now it feels like something greater.

I want to continue my blog because I found such joy in telling the world(even if only three or four people heard) my views. I fell in love with the multimodal platform that a blog permits, and I’ve realized that good writing goes so much beyond just the written word.

My largest struggle in this class felt like my race. In no way shape or form do I find myself to be a victim or wish to be sympathized for being white, but I oftentimes felt afraid to speak my mind about certain subjects because of my ethnicity. This fear was never from the class itself, but due to the subjects we discuss, I was worried of saying too much. I was afraid because I didn’t want to step out of bounds, or to cause offense to someone who has greater understanding of a subject than I did. I overcame this by listening and learning. I listened to the voices of others who personally experienced the subject, and I learned from Savy but also the rest of the class how to approach a sensitive topic. It was from listening, reading and researching that I learned so much about the world, and I feel like this knowledge has helped me become a better person.

I feel like my view of the world has changed. I suppose that’s what college is for right? I’m grateful that my family taught me so much about other cultures, but I still wish that I would have had the opportunity to take a course like this sooner. I think that the average American has forgotten the real beauty in travel and that’s to expand your horizons. I always liked the phrase “we live in a bubble”, and I feel like travel helps burst this bubble of comfort which shields us from truly living. I suppose this class taught me that the bubbles can still exist even when someone travels, and that it’s up to us as the consumers, travelers and human beings to look beyond that.

This course opened my eyes to the wrongs in the travel industry. The misrepresentation of culture is seen in virtually every advertisement by any business because people oftentimes only want to see the fun tourist activities. My family always made it a challenge to visit somewhere not on the typical route while we’re out of town, because we crave the authentic experience of foreign life. But not many people even understand what “authentic” really is. In some places it doesn’t exist anymore.

My concept of travel has changed in many ways, as my consideration for others has increased. But my overall goal of travel hasn’t changed- which is to open my mind to new cultures and new people. I am excited to continue writing, in my journal and on the blog. I am incredibly blessed to have the travel opportunities I’ve had, and I feel blessed to have taken this class.