I still can’t believe\u00a0I actually got to visit\u00a0Southeast Asia\u2014it’s been my dream for a long time. I’m even more astonished at how different I feel now that I’m home. In some ways, ![\"IMG_2121\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/files\/2016\/07\/IMG_2121-300x225.jpg\")
it’s\u00a0been difficult. It’s not easy to return to your normal routine after\u00a0almost a month of\u00a0exploring and learning and moving! I keep myself busy, but few\u00a0experiences are new. This is partially a complaint, but mostly, I’m grateful that this\u00a0trip\u00a0sparked such a craving for new experiences. I used to hide behind\u00a0the safety of the known, but now I feel\u00a0brave and capable enough to let myself live.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_2561\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/files\/2016\/07\/IMG_2561-300x225.jpg\")
Traveling, especially somewhere so far and different from home, means pushing boundaries and trying new things. I’ve\u00a0done so many strange and wonderful things\u00a0that I couldn’t\u2014and wouldn’t\u2014have done in the US, and with relative success. As a result,\u00a0my\u00a0self-efficacy skyrocketed, which greatly\u00a0impacts\u00a0my life at home. I now understand\u00a0that I can handle most tasks and situations\u2014and more importantly, if I do make a mistake, it probably\u00a0won’t end my reputation, career, or\u00a0life. I feel pretty confident that if I want to do something, I can do it. It’s the stuff of motivational kid’s shows, but it\u00a0took a pretty big adventure for the idea to resonate with me.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_3124\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/files\/2016\/07\/IMG_3124-300x225.jpg\")
I find myself saying\u00a0‘yes’ to more things, approaching i![\"IMG_2898\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/files\/2016\/07\/IMG_2898-166x300.jpg\")
ntimidating situations with a sunny outlook, and making fewer to-do lists with time restrictions. These are all gifts\u00a0from a culture across the world, and I am so grateful.<\/p>\n
The lessons\u00a0I learned\u00a0can’t be tested, only felt. In the eyes of many, this makes them less relevant, but I disagree. We go to\u00a0school with a guarantee of learning hard, tangible skills, but are often left on our own to develop\u00a0soft skills and a sense of personal and cultural awareness\u2014that’s what makes experiences\u00a0like this one so important.<\/p>\n
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one\u2019s lifetime.”<\/p>\n
-Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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I still can’t believe\u00a0I actually got to visit\u00a0Southeast Asia\u2014it’s been my dream for a long time. I’m even more astonished at how different I feel now that I’m home. In some ways, it’s\u00a0been difficult. It’s not easy to return to your normal routine after\u00a0almost a month of\u00a0exploring and learning and moving! I keep myself busy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2759,"featured_media":2631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62810],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailandsoutheast-asia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1315\/2016\/07\/IMG_2925.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2759"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2583"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2683,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2583\/revisions\/2683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/adventures-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}