Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The ILC’s Maiden Voyage to Vanderbilt: Travel and its Importance


It has truly been a long day, but there has been no stop to the excitement felt here. From waking up at 4:30 AM, pulling my mother and brother from bed to make it to El Cerrito High School on time, to actually arriving at the school early.

Upon our arrival at the school, in the midst of the low fog, my cohorts and I gathered together with our families and Don Gosney to visit his famous table of supplies with which we gathered what was needed for our journey. Items varying from laptop security tables to umbrellas lay across the table for us to take on the trip. Some seemed unnecessary of course, but through Don’s funny stories of past trips where students chose to ignore a certain item, like an umbrella, then ended up soaked because of their decision really showed me that it’s better to be safe than sorry in dealing with supplies.

After going through the selection of supplies, we moved to the guessing game that is “How much does your bag way!” I volunteered to go first because I felt confident that I was under the fifty pound limit. I wasn’t, it took the removal of 4 shirts and 2 tries at the weigh-in to finally meet the limitation. Everyone else had passed with flying colors.

We then proceeded to take a nice group picture, as our ride showed up. We were in for a pleasant surprise; we left in style with a white stretch limousine.
We arrived at our gate without having any problems and got on the plane in the same manner. After getting settled in our seating arrangements, I began to engage in conversation with my seatmate Ms. Ranida a San Francisco native who was flying to the Midwest to be with her family. We began to talk about travel, where she’d been, her experiences while being all over the world, the people of the world and our similarities, even ways to travel specifically by airplane, but one important thing we talked about was the importance of travel.

“Travel everywhere whenever you can.” That was the only words of advice she had given me in our conversation. I immediately thought of one of my purposes for being on this trip, to show people that there is more to the world than just California. Travel allows you to learn languages, cultures, more about yourself, and the world around you. 

Media can be a distraction when it comes to certain people, nationalities, or even ethnic groups because the media portrays the world from their perspectives. Travel allows you to gain your own perspective instead of having to listen to others. Even though Cuba is a place most Americans are discouraged to go to because of their ruler’s communist affiliation; I’m sure most Cuban people wake up in the morning, eat their three daily meals, enjoy conversations with friends, hate homework, and overall want to treat people how they want to be treated in spite of race, nationality, or socioeconomic factors. I want to thank the Ivy League Connection for helping me unlock a powerful tool which is often underrated.

Thinking about my World Religions class I realize why there are field trips, simply because there are some things you can’t learn in the classroom. In the words of St. Augustine, The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page,” and thank you for helping me discover more pages like this:
: 
 Julia, Aiyana, and I in front of our Travel tool for our time in Atlanta

2 comments:

  1. Kye,

    You look entirely too comfortable in front of that stretch limo. I suppose, though, that you need to get used to such vehicles to prepare you for that job opportunity you have planned for 1932.

    You were very fortunate to end up with a nice seat mate where you could travel and learn at the same time. [I get the crying babies, the sleeping fat guys or the business people who only want to work--or all three at once.]

    You're absolutely right, Kye, about how stagnant we can become if we think the limits to our universe extend only to the end of our block. There are a lot of customs and viewpoints (not to mention foods) that are radically different from what we see here at home and it's smart of you to see that now and take advantage of it while you can.

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  2. Kye,

    I thank God for your safe trip.

    As you view a different part of the country, your keen interest in diverse environment will not only help you "know more", but definitely understand more.

    As the old motto goes, "try everything once" .. local delicacies, art and even music.. You'll never know will surprise you unless you've tried it..

    Take Care and Have a great weekend ahead!
    -Dad

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