How Traveling Changed My Life

For as long as man has possessed the ability to contemplate their existence one question seems to always find its way into the human mind. Not surprisingly that question is of course, "What is the purpose of life?" Being a young man myself I constantly find myself trying to answer this question on a daily basis. Yet I always come back to the same conclusion that there is no way of being sure or certain. However, I have discovered something that is always guaranteed to teach you something new; that being traveling.

Up until I was 18 the most exotic trip I had ever taken was to Universal Studios in Florida. Not really exotic, but when you are 13 it is a grand old time. But once I hit the special age of 18 an opportunity arose thanks to a professor at the college I was attending. It was a trip to Europe and more specifically, Italy and France. Since I was deprived of any real kind of vacation or journey I immediately pounced on the opportunity. The experience was something I will never forget. It taught me that leaving one's home turf or comfort zone acts a true test of character.

Since then I have been on numerous road trips-even one that took me from New Jersey to California-as well as a recent excursion to Spain, which was filled with many life lessons along with the addition of new and stronger friendships. All of these trips took place in the course of less than a year and as I approach the second half of my 19^th year I have no intentions to stop. In my travels and each fresh test of character I not only learned new things about myself, but I discovered a lot about interactions with a variety of people. In turn this has helped me progress as a person, for the better, and I can safely say without travel my personality would not be the same as it is today.

There is something about travel that is guaranteed to result in some kind of profound personal change. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we are thrown into a foreign environment and must rely on social survival skills to get back home without any kind of blunder. Then again if we do manage to find ourselves in a sticky situation it only strengthens our character if we are able to get out with only a few scrapes and bruises (physical or mental).

In hindsight travel has changed my life as it has showed me that I am truly a student of life. It is travel that has taught me new things that I otherwise would not be able to learn if I stayed in my hometown. For that travel is something everyone should experience because I firmly believe it is a great tool for building character and creating a better personal outlook on life and the world in general. To see a city that is drastically different from the everyday sights or to be immersed in another culture is one of the few pure and beautiful experiences in this life.