Turkey and Greece: a short synopsis

My time abroad is quickly coming to an end, and the minutes are ticking away at this over-priced internet cafe in Athens. 2.40 euro for an hour. Breaks the bank. I can't wait to come home to the land of free wireless at coffee shops, and inexpensive wireless in my apartment. And free internet at school.

I've been strangely homesick at times on this trip. This is not characteristic of me at all. I haven't been homesick since 5th grade at summer camp. I've tried to place my finger on the reason for the homesickness. I do miss my friends. I miss the comforts of my luxurious life in the US, I miss speaking in my own language, I miss my own food, my own bed. Most of all, though---and I knew I might feel this way---I miss not knowing someone everywhere I go. I was always with someone from Transy wherever I went, so I was never truly alone, but the entire time I was here, I was a nameless tourist who came to spend money, see the sights, and disregard the life that is lived in Turkey and Greece.

We raced from site to site, ruin to ruin, church to church, all in a posh air conditioned bus, with tour guides, good food, and digital cameras. And everyday, our bus drove past young children walking to school, old men sitting in dusty, run down cafes, women working in the market, beggars sitting on sidewalks, holding up cardboard signs and plastic cups they had dug out of the garbage. And it bothered me. I've justified, I think, myself being a tourist. I do want to see the beauty of the world. I want to travel and see the wonders of this planet. But I do not want to dismiss the life that is lived in the countries I visit. I wish I had taken the time to learn basic Turkish and Greek. I learned the basic phrases of the two languages, and put them into use, in no time. It wouldn't have been that big of a problem to have learned how to conjugate 5-10 useful verbs, how to carry on a basic 'getting to know you' conversation. But no. I didn't have the foresight. I didn't think about it. I was too involved in myself come the end of the semester, too excited about just going abroad. And I wasn't excited enough, or forethinking enough, to realize that I was going to encounter vibrant and diverse cultures, and due to the language barrier, much of their beauty would just pass me by.


So, I prepare to leave Greece, and I am regretful. I had quite a journey while here. Read a lot, wrote a lot, learned a lot, deepened friendships and strengthened bonds. But this trip could have been so much more. I regret that I didn't work to make it 'that much more'. I regret that I was so self-involved in the preparation to leave that I didn't learn ways to communicate with the people I would meet here.

The homesickness came, I think, because I had no means by which to make these places home. In Lexington, I know at least one person, everywhere I go. I know people, and I can communicate with them and find out how their lives are. In Greece and Turkey, I could order food, say hello, please and thank you. Basically, I could get what I needed to get by, and didn't have the means necessary to find out who these people were that I was encountering. I have no feeling of home here in Greece and Turkey. And that's not because it's not my home. I am a citizen of the world. The world is my home. I have no feeling of home because I, for the first time in my life (that I've recognized it), could not even begin to know people. If I am going to truly be a citizen of the world, I need to step it up, and I have to immerse myself in the cultures I visit. I regret not fully knowing the beauty of these cultures, because of my ignorance.

I'm very excited about starting Arabic lessons when I get back to Lexington. While I was originally worried that I'd get homesick while in Morocco for a semester, now I don't think I will--at least not as much as Turkey and Greece. I'm going to work my hardest to become a beginning Arabic speaker, so that my skills improve while I'm in Morocco. I will do my best to create a family and a home for myself while I'm abroad. I will get to know the people. I will become part of Morocco, to the best of my Western ability. And by creating a home and a family in Morocco, I won't feel outside. I won't be a tourist.

I hate being an ignorant tourist.

I'm so ready to come home. This trip has been wonderful, and there will be several blog postings regarding my travels going up after a few days at home. I've got loads of pictures, and videos, and journal entries to post. But, I'm ready for home, and ready to begin again. As Dr. Jones said at our closing ceremony tonight, this is just the beginning.

This is just the beginning. The beginning of bringing the sacred into the world. The beginning of living more fully, and striving to be fulfilled through loving others, in this unfulfilled world.