A little essay on "Why am I going on
Expedition 2013?" A few thoughts.
There lots of reasons why people travel.
1. There's negative reasons. I want to get away (run away) from troubles eg. annoying people (parent, brother, sister) or difficult problem (debt, bad memories).
2. There's trivial reasons. I'm not going to get a sun tan in England, so I might as well try somewhere else. And trivial reasons give way to trivial grumbles eg. Expedition 2013 was OK but it (a) played havoc with my nail varnish or (b) made me miss Taiwan’s got Talent on TV.
Reasons 1 and 2 don't really apply to Expedition 2013, I hope.
There's reasons which are much more specific to the country.
3. Culture. I want to hear music and language. I want to eat different food. I want to see dance and dress.
4. Social. I want to meet people and understand more about their way of life. I want to talk and join in with what they do. I want to help in some way with their difficulties (health, poverty, education). I want to laugh and dance and sing with Ugandan people.
5. I want to see - mountains, lakes, wildlife.
6. I want to experience - white water rafting, trekking in jungle.
Then there's reasons to do with personal development.
7. I want to get on well with the others on Expedition 2013 and make good friends - possibly friends for life. I want to give a proper contribution to helping make the month a success by being willing to help and taking the responsibilities of leadership seriously.
8. I want to improve my personal fitness and endurance and hygiene (Where did I put my toothbrush?).
9. I want to learn a language or how to travel as a student internationally.
10. I want to learn how to plan travel, book accommodation and transport.
11. I want to improve personal organisation though this experience.
12. I want to be challenged by poverty, by joy amongst people who have very few of the things that make me happy.
Finally, and more searchingly, there's the reflective journey. Fundamentally, this is the most important aspect of Expedition because if you don't do this bit, then you will be unchanged by the experience. Call this what you will. Pilgrimage perhaps, where the physical journey is accompanied by an inner journey of self discovery. You hear it all the time amongst student travellers "I want to find myself, what life's all about." Often it's more about questions than answers. It's about hearing different points of view and forming a judgement about your own beliefs and the way you want to live your life, what values you have, what morals and responsibilities you hold.
13. In the thick and chaos of lots of things happening and lots of people talking, I want to learn to listen to the honest and authentic me. I want my values, my assumptions to be tested and questioned. I want to be open to changing the way I think and what I believe.
Well there's much more I could say and no doubt there's other reasons why people travel, but I hope it helps you think about what your reasons are. It might be a good idea to form a picture in your mind of what you are doing/seeing/hearing/smelling/tasting/touching/feeling when you try to capture an answer to the question “Why am I going on Expedition 2013?” There are no single right answers! And you could go for the easy way out by saying “I’m going with an open mind to see what the experience says to me”. But it’s better to be more focussed than that. Wishing you all the best as you prepare. Dr E.
There lots of reasons why people travel.
1. There's negative reasons. I want to get away (run away) from troubles eg. annoying people (parent, brother, sister) or difficult problem (debt, bad memories).
2. There's trivial reasons. I'm not going to get a sun tan in England, so I might as well try somewhere else. And trivial reasons give way to trivial grumbles eg. Expedition 2013 was OK but it (a) played havoc with my nail varnish or (b) made me miss Taiwan’s got Talent on TV.
Reasons 1 and 2 don't really apply to Expedition 2013, I hope.
There's reasons which are much more specific to the country.
3. Culture. I want to hear music and language. I want to eat different food. I want to see dance and dress.
4. Social. I want to meet people and understand more about their way of life. I want to talk and join in with what they do. I want to help in some way with their difficulties (health, poverty, education). I want to laugh and dance and sing with Ugandan people.
5. I want to see - mountains, lakes, wildlife.
6. I want to experience - white water rafting, trekking in jungle.
Then there's reasons to do with personal development.
7. I want to get on well with the others on Expedition 2013 and make good friends - possibly friends for life. I want to give a proper contribution to helping make the month a success by being willing to help and taking the responsibilities of leadership seriously.
8. I want to improve my personal fitness and endurance and hygiene (Where did I put my toothbrush?).
9. I want to learn a language or how to travel as a student internationally.
10. I want to learn how to plan travel, book accommodation and transport.
11. I want to improve personal organisation though this experience.
12. I want to be challenged by poverty, by joy amongst people who have very few of the things that make me happy.
Finally, and more searchingly, there's the reflective journey. Fundamentally, this is the most important aspect of Expedition because if you don't do this bit, then you will be unchanged by the experience. Call this what you will. Pilgrimage perhaps, where the physical journey is accompanied by an inner journey of self discovery. You hear it all the time amongst student travellers "I want to find myself, what life's all about." Often it's more about questions than answers. It's about hearing different points of view and forming a judgement about your own beliefs and the way you want to live your life, what values you have, what morals and responsibilities you hold.
13. In the thick and chaos of lots of things happening and lots of people talking, I want to learn to listen to the honest and authentic me. I want my values, my assumptions to be tested and questioned. I want to be open to changing the way I think and what I believe.
Well there's much more I could say and no doubt there's other reasons why people travel, but I hope it helps you think about what your reasons are. It might be a good idea to form a picture in your mind of what you are doing/seeing/hearing/smelling/tasting/touching/feeling when you try to capture an answer to the question “Why am I going on Expedition 2013?” There are no single right answers! And you could go for the easy way out by saying “I’m going with an open mind to see what the experience says to me”. But it’s better to be more focussed than that. Wishing you all the best as you prepare. Dr E.
