DO IT FOR THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT BY EMILY BEYER
BEYER, AUSTRALIA 12
SOUVENIRS
Whether you’ve been fortunate enough to experience international travel or not, let it be known that spending time abroad will change you. You will never be the same after a travel experience. Fear not, this change is simply a matter of personal growth better known as character development. Although character development is an inevitable result of traveling, it is not often thought of as a cause for travel. However, I think this should be considered one, if not the most important, reason to travel. I would even argue that we have an obligation to ourselves to travel so we may develop our character. You might ask, why must we travel in order to better ourselves? Can’t we do that from the comfort of our homes? This may be true, but I think that you can only get so “good” at life in one particular place, lifestyle and culture. Once you reach this point, the only way to improve is by broadening your horizons (literally and metaphorically). Not only does staying in one place provide a finite landscape for improvement, but being surrounded by the same culture and living the same lifestyle can be blinding. Without experiencing other ways of life, cultures, and alternative outlooks, you will never know what you could be better at or what you should think differently about. We most commonly come to question our personal outlooks by comparing them with others. How would you arrive at such a comparison if you’ve spent your life surrounded by people that live and breathe the same reality as you do? You might think that your outlook and lifestyle is the best– but unless
