It’s hard to consider yourself world-aware, if you never been anywhere in the world. And even if you’re traveling from one continent to the next in a matter of days, you aren’t automatically deemed the authority on worldly matters. What determines that is your will to learn from the people that you meet, your passion to teach and to be taught, and sometimes all it takes is a game of lap tag…
DC is a city of many faces. Being that it is the nation’s capitol, it is very diverse. People of all races, cultures, and creeds, from all corners of the earth reside here. I could say that I know those people but I would be a liar. Before going to Scotland as part of the Experiment in International Living (EIL) program, it was always easy for me branch out. But I learned that no matter what, you can always introduce yourself. That is the beginning of every life-long relationship.
Upon meeting my group members I noticed that there were already similarities amongst us. For instance, they were all people, which I might add was a big relief. It’s so crazy to think that over the period of a month these people became as close as family. Before my trip I had never been forced to stay at a table even after I was finished eating. I’m kind of mad now at our group leader for making me talk even more to people that I had walked two and a half miles around the city with – It makes me miss them even more. I’m glad to say that I did have fun and made new friends.
For me, fun used to be a 12-pack box of strawberry Pop-Tarts, a large glass of milk, and Call of Duty. Much to my surprise, Scotland has a different definition of fun. In Scotland, fund is all outdoors and it never stops. Fun is running through the vibrant streets of Glasgow (pronounced glass-go, if you didn’t know), unraveling a human knot from a beautiful vista on the Isle of Skye, or rock-climbing on an amazing beach an hour and a half away from Lagganlia. And sometimes it more than worth the two hour trip to get there because you get so much out of the experience.
While in Scotland I had forgotten to pack something that most people consider essential: my comfort zone. There was no room for it in my bag I guess. In the long run, however, I think I was better off without it. I did thing in Scotland that I don’t think I would have had the confidence to do here at home. A vegetable-off can tell you a lot about a person such as how good they are at thinking on their feet. Lap tag is just one of those games that you won’t learn in America and it’s for a good reason too. In America, we hold ourselves back from having as much possible fun as we can because of transparent restrictions that we teach ourselves to make for some reason or another.
Faces are hard to remember when you’re moving fast everyday. They all just blur together like some sort of weird spirit picture of life. But if take your time and look some one deep in the face, you end up with a picture etched in your mind forever. It’s not only the face you remember but the person behind it. And you begin to realize that you haven’t slowed down to see this person but they have sped up to match your speed. And the world as a whole adjusts to your speed.
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