Back in the US

London was a good time. I hung out with Rob and checked out where he grew up in Windsor. He also showed me around London and introduced me to some of his friends. It was interesting to see where a good friend that I met traveling grew up. Most of the time I meet people abroad and we get along well, but never get to see where each other came from. Seeing Rob again was immediately a comfortable feeling where neither of us had to work to make conversation happen. It’s a strange experience going from not knowing a person to spending everyday with them for three months.

I’ve been back in the US for a little over a month. Usually I don’t do blog posts while at home but I feel it’s a good idea to describe the feeling of being home from this trip in particular. I just got back into Denver and I find myself slipping into my old routines and habits. This scares me because there was a reason I left. I was in a rut and needed change. I’m really going to try hard to be better than I was and to remember the things I learned traveling. Sometimes I get distracted by little issues in life and forget how lucky I am to have the life I do. As Americans, I think we sometimes take what we have for granted. I’ve been very fortunate to have a great family, an education, and to live in a country that provides opportunities. So many people I’ve seen don’t know where their next meal will come from, don’t have transportation, and don’t have access to medical care. I’m not saying its perfect here and there is certainly a great deal of inequality, but most of us aren’t living in rural huts praying for enough rain that we’ll have corn to eat.

I find myself daydreaming and spacey lately. I’ll be having a good time then its like I get slapped in the face and remember how unfair the world is. There are so many people starving, yet I just play dumb and go buy another $8 beer at the bar. Most of us just ignore what’s going on in different parts of the world because for unknown reasons we feel entitled to what we have. Recently two Africans I met have contacted me asking for help with money. I’m not sure what I’ll do. Giving people money isn’t a long-term solution. Yet I do feel guilty because I’m still spending money on things I don’t need.

Another big issue I’ve been dealing with is getting used to having a cell phone. During my trip I never had a phone. I had an iPad, but it didn’t have a data plan, so I needed wifi to connect. Now I’m connected nearly everywhere I go.  Sometimes I’ll sit at a table with friends and many of them just stare at their phone.  I can’t say I’m immune though. If I’m waiting or bored I catch myself staring at my phone. Smart phones have the potential to make people detached from reality. Whenever we feel socially awkward we just stare at the screen. Sometimes its nice to feel out of place and awkward. That way we learn how to deal with that type of situation and aren’t forced to pretend we’re so important that we need to check our phones constantly.

Traveling has shown me some things I dislike about the American culture. For one it’s not whether what we have works, but often we want our things to be nicer than the person next door. There is a competition to outdo each other materialistically. This leads to a great deal of waste and an ugly consumerist culture. Another thing that is apparent while traveling is how opinionated and ignorant many Americans can be. It’s usually easy to pick out the Americans in a room full of international travelers. Typically they’re the loudest people in the room, who seem to just be talking to hear their own voice. While traveling I put an effort into keeping up with both American and international news. I also try to keep my tone down and be open to changing my opinion in discussions. The majority of Americans I met abroad aren’t very well informed, yet they will argue their point and use volume to compensate for their lack of knowledge. I try my best to be the atypical American while traveling.

Some of my points about Americans may be considered offensive, but this is what I’ve seen from experience. My views are constantly changing and every time I’m proven wrong I learn something new. I’d be more than happy to discuss these things with people that disagree. It’s not a bad thing to be proven wrong.

It’s difficult to describe what my point is… Basically it’s been harder to readjust this time. On the surface everything seems normal, but my mind wanders. Soon I’ll be back into the typical life that I used to have. Traveling will be a memory and it won’t come into my thinking all the time. I can’t tell if that’s a good or bad thing.