Ben the Greek

Anonymous Several posts ago, we all wrote about adapting during travel to foreign places. For a quick sum up, I wrote that adaption is necessary during travel. It helps you to face adversaries that you will undoubtedly meet, allows for the opportunity for new experiences, and, as Mark Twain says, helps to expel bigotry and single mindedness. However, adaption during travel should not jeopardize personal identity. So with this idea, my blog title becomes ironic. I am not Greek. I am an Irish American from New Mexico lucky enough to travel and study in Greece. During my time here, I have fallen in love with this country and the parts of its culture that I have experienced. When I travel to foreign places, I have yet to return the same as when I left. I try to learn and grow during travel. I see it not just as an opportunity to experience more about that which is foreign to me, but also as an opportunity to learn more about myself. I allays leave a piece of myself wherever I go, and fill that hole with small bits of the places I visited. I will not leave this county as a Greek, nor will I leave the same as when I arrived. For me, that is part of the beauty of travel. Travel solely for the sake of the destination defeats the purpose of going in the first place. Lillian Smith writes "No journey carries one fare unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within." I don't think that any of us on this trip are or will leave as Greeks (except for you Dr. Finitis but you already were), but it would be a monumental tragedy if any of us returned the same.