Airports Around the World

I can find my way around any international airport. There are signs all over the place. I feel right at home in any hotel room around the world. I know where everything is supposed to be: the phone(s), the iron, the Bible, the safe, the extra blanket and pillows. I don't mind eating at restaurants abroad where I have no idea how to order. I'll just try something new.

But I still feel like a foreigner at a local supermarket.

The reason is simple: lack of practice. I merely do not go to local supermarkets often enough.

The supermarkets I'm most familiar with are the two I used to frequent back when I studied in Japan and the one down the street from where I lived while studying in Sweden.

Being lost in a supermarket is most likely not new to someone my age in this generation or the last, but that ignorance of navigating a local grocery store complemented with the audacity to go out into the world without hesitation is probably something unique to Generation Y.

We grew up practically smothered by our parents, who wanted nothing but the best education for us, the best food, the best love. When they were our age, traveling outside of the country was more than likely a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Now, with all this heavy promotion for both short- and long-term study abroad programs throughout all universities, if I don't see at least one new country per year, I feel as if I'm missing out on something. I know quite a few people my age who share this view.

Naturally, not everyone is as ignorant at a local supermarket as I am. I know the Albertsons, the Ralphs, Jons, Vons, Ranch 99, but I'm not deeply in tune with what happens in the aisles and the protocol at the checkout line (I would give more detail in this regard if I knew them or paid more attention the few times I'm actually at the checkout line for something other than booze). This is mainly because I have always lived with my parents or in the dorms, where the dining halls take care of all the food for us lucky college kids. The only exception to this is my time abroad. I myself am already an exception, though. Most of my friends from college have at one point or another lived in an apartment and needed to do their own grocery shopping. But let's face it, if you grew up in a home where at least one of your parents knew what they were doing in the kitchen, you would mourn those solo trips to the supermarket, detest your own cooking, and secretly smile in relief when you go home for a good meal.

Again, there are exceptions. Some young people my age do indeed have what it takes to produce something savory in the kitchen. Why do you suppose guys who can cook are so sought after in the market?

So, are Gen Yers really broadening our horizons by traveling halfway across the world when we come back and are still more or less dependent on our parents? (I know there are quite of you truly independent folks out there, but how many of you have learned to cook as well as your parents, how many of you would avoid doing laundry if someone else would do it for you, how many of you can pay for every penny of your expenses on your own and still have enough set aside later for a mortgage, a car, repaying all loans and debts, and all the fun times you have on the weekends?)

Am I unique within my age group in my interesting dichotomy involving international airports and local supermarkets? I think not.