Travel

Though my family and I took many road trips, my first real experience with international travel came at the age of nine. This was in the summer of 2000, a year prior to 9/11, and we were getting ready to fly to the Pakistani port city of Karachi to visit my aunt and uncle on my maternal side. Though my father couldn’t come due to his work schedule, I remember him dropping us off at JFK International Airport in New York City, and the hug he gave us before driving off. In that moment I learned to be more self-reliant, as neither separation anxiety or a bad attitude would help me on my trip, especially since I was sure to be considered an outsider there, or even worse, an American! For the next two months I endured humidity and temperatures that would make the strongest Houstonians blush, with dengue fever and malaria just a mosquito bite away. There were special nettings for the beds at my aunt’s house, and the servants would often help us with chores like that both in the mornings and evenings, before they sojourned for the night. This was another phenomenon I was unused to, as the catastrophic wealth imbalance overseas was quite shocking in contrast to the relative stability in the United States. At the end of this journey, I came home with an open mind, insight, and perspective, three things that would influence my future travels. Since then, I have traveled to over a dozen countries, including Mexico, where I spent a summer in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. I learned how to speak Spanish with relative ease, as I had taken AP Spanish in high school and excelled at it, but now had the “immersive” experience I needed to effectively communicate in real world scenarios. Having visited Europe and the Middle East as well, given the proximity to Pakistan, I have developed an appreciation for worldviews that are considered antithetical to the “Americentric” view of the world which I grew up with. This does not mean I bear any disdain or dislike for any particular country, ideology, or value system, but it does mean I understand the importance of “cultural relativism”, the cornerstone of Cultural Anthropology. I would love to hear from some of y’all regarding your travel experiences, from backpacking trips and hostel stays, to luxury cruises and beyond! (Refer to Education Page for more information on the aforementioned course)