Many people view travel as a chance to see and experience a new place, which is why so many people love to do it.
Both students and faculty at Pepperdine said they have experienced first-hand just how life-changing traveling can be.
“Travel is being immersed in a place where I can engage with people and challenge my own experiences,” said Charlie Engelmann, senior director of International Programs.
A Love for Travel
Ron Cox, dean of International Programs, said he enjoys traveling because of the ability to see and experience new things.
“I love to travel because of the joy of discovery and of seeing things that I thought I knew and discovering new aspects of those things,” Cox said.
Junior Vera Syers loves traveling because of the challenges it brings. Figuring out difficulties can be a confidence booster, she said.
“I think traveling presents a challenge and accomplishing a successful trip is such a victory for me,” Syers said.
Syers said she believes that her parents are responsible for her love of travel.
“I honestly can’t imagine living without traveling since it’s been a part of my life since I was very young,” Syers said, “whether that was leaving the country or just moving to a new state.”
Junior Brantley Holladay said her brother inspired her to travel. She saw the way that travel changed the way he viewed the world, which is what sparked her interest in it.
“Traveling is something new and unexpected and you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Holladay said. “You don’t know if everything is gonna go exactly to your original plan but it’s always thrilling and exciting.”
Cox used the metaphor of a Western town movie set to describe how he gains fulfillment from traveling.
A Western town movie set would have facades for shop fronts, Cox said. However, the longer you’re in a place the more real it becomes. Then, it’s not just walking onto a movie set that looks like Europe or Asia but it’s actually being in Europe or Asia.
Engelmann said he has a similar experience in which he believes that traveling is not only about understanding the world better but specifically people in the world, which helps to make the experience more substantive.
A New Worldview
Taking the opportunity to view travel as an educational experience in addition to a vacation can help change and enhance one’s worldview.
“Travel has definitely changed the way that I view the world in the sense that I would consider myself more open-minded and empathetic,” Holladay said.
Cox said the beauty of good travel is that it can open his mind.
“I had the fortune of being able to go to Uganda, Africa in 2010,” Cox said. “While there, I had momentary thoughts of how I should behave, but then I was able to be there and be present to the people around me.”
Syers said traveling to Kenya helped her realize that the world is more similar than different.
“When I went to Kenya I had the chance to get to know some girls there and it was so funny how similar we were,” Syers said. “It was really cool to find bits of myself in people around the world. It made me feel closer to home and so connected to everyone else.”
Engelmann said it’s important to be able to step away from one’s own cultural bubbles because that’s when one can begin to view the world in a different light.
“When we leave our cultural bubbles, we start seeing that things are different and that people see the world differently,” Engelmann said. “Ultimately, it helps me to have more compassion for people when there’s a misunderstanding. It’s hard to do that unless you cross out of your cultural bubble and experience.”
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Contact Alicia Dofelmier by email: alicia.dofelmier@pepperdine.edu
