Check Your Ego at the Border
01. Jul, 2008 
8 Comments
GUEST POST: While I am on the road this week and exploring Madrid, I’ve arranged for some of my favorite travel bloggers to share their travel stories and advice here. So enjoy, give our guest bloggers lots of love and be sure to check out the author’s site.
Traveling is like eating a big piece of humble pie. It doesn’t matter if you speak the language, have studied the culture, read all the guidebooks, or have been to your destination multiple times before, you will still encounter situations that make you feel like it’s your first day of high school and you’re the only one who can’t find the classroom. You will eat humble pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You’ll snack on it when you get hungry. You’ll consume so much of it that at times you’ll feel like you couldn’t possibly take another bite…oh, well…it was so good, maybe just one more…
As a foreigner it’s natural that you don’t know everything about the places you’ll be visiting, but this fact will offer you no consolation. You’ll find yourself having to ask a million silly questions, you’ll get lost regularly and you’ll commit embarrassing social gaffes. You’ll sometimes struggle to say even the simplest things in their language. If you’re like me and you decide to come to Paris – where hours of operation are extremely varied and subject to spontaneous changes – you’ll inevitably at some point travel all the way across town to visit an office building or a museum only to discover that they’re closed on Thursdays…between 10 and 2…for this week only. In fact, if you’re really like me, you’ll repeat this mistake over and over and over again.
At some point, you’ll ask yourself the question: what am I doing here? Why did I leave a place where I understand all the rules, where I understand and speak the language with ease, and where I feel like I know what I’m doing at least the majority of the time, to come here?
But of course, you know the answer. It’s quite simple, really. You do it because on some level you enjoy being a foreigner. You enjoy the rush it gives you. Sure there are tough times, times when you feel a bit helpless, but there are also the times when you feel a sense of accomplishment, when you beam with pride as you claim victory over the travel gods. A local asked me for directions! I navigated the metro from memory! I just had an entire conversation in a foreign language and they understood me! I finally got the French bureaucracy to send me my social security card! And somewhere along the road, surviving all those mishaps and roadblocks make you realize what you’re made of. You’re made of tenacity, of courage and of sheer determination. You are a successful traveler.
So go ahead, eat up! That humble pie’s not so bad. And the aftertaste is amazing.
About the Author:
Tanya Brothen is a second-year graduate student at American University’s School of International Service in Washington, DC pursuing a Master’s Degree in International Affairs. She is currently studying at Sciences Po Paris on a semester abroad exchange program.
When not blogging about life as an American in Paris, Tanya enjoys traveling throughout Europe, cooking in her tiny French kitchen, searching for her next favorite Parisian café…and being a foreigner. You can read about her experiences at www.parisianspring.blogspot.com.
Photo (top): Tanvach
Tanya-
Great post! And I’m very much like you– I’m the person who will cross town (over and over again) and find a place closed.
Julies last blog post..Say “Si!” to Summer Shrimp Ceviche!
Great post! Every trip I take I learn something new, and have some humble pie. Even, as you stated, if it’s a place I’ve been to a lot. But then, this is why I travel… to experience something new that is perhaps outside of my comfort zone.
Loris last blog post..California Wildfires – Will Be Updated
Excellent post Tanya!
Nomadic Matts last blog post..The American South
“Sure there are tough times, times when you feel a bit helpless, but there are also the times when you feel a sense of accomplishment, when you beam with pride as you claim victory over the travel gods.”
I think this is the joy of independent travel, whether you are moving to a new country, or just passing through and trying to figure out the trains/planes/buses/taxis, etc. It is the pain of trying to do all these things, and in most cases just bordering on the verge of failure (if not crossing right over into actual failure) that makes those small victories seem so sweet.
Greg Wessons last blog post..Canada Day in London, UK
I have to agree with you Tanya, having challenged myself endless times in situations where I am well out of my comfort zone I have begun to realise I am actually addicted to them, indeed i even crave the challenge of the unknown.
Maybe all of these comments will help encourage someone who wants to travel but is afraid to to take the big leap and just do it! Yes, it’s tough, but it can be such a rush and you CAN be successful at it!
Solid post Tanya. And very timely too. I just step out of my first intensive Swedish class today and boy, did I fill up on humble pie!
Lolas last blog post..Postcard: Superm-andrew
Wonderful post. Also, sometimes those mishaps lead you to things you never would’ve thought to find and make for the best stories.
Daniels last blog post..Making an exit