Reflections on 2008

As 2008 comes to a close, it seems appropriate for me to reflect on the events of the last year. To call it an interesting ride would be an understatement. While the world at large has recently changed in irreversible ways, I have attempted to keep a more introspective focus here. I do not mean to suggest these experiences happened in a vacuum; such a statement would of course be ridiculous.

What follows are some of my experiences in the past year.

I have traveled to 7 countries outside the US. Seven of my last twelve months have been abroad, and I still have three more to go.

Before leaving, I was lucky enough to grow intellectually and swap ideas with some of the best academic minds in the world. In June my family flew to Boston to attend my graduation from what US News & World Report ranks as the top engineering university in the nation. My research allowed me to spend a month in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by a 123 page thesis report submitted only four months later.

In Iceland, I visited incredibly pristine environments and some of the most naturally beautiful landscapes imaginable, including volcanoes, craters, waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, geothermal pools, and geysers. In late June, I watched the sun set at 2am and come up a half hour later. A few weeks later, I went hiking (with daylight) around midnight.

I stood at the edge and looked down the largest waterfall in Europe (Dettifoss, North Iceland).

I toured both the worlds largest and second largest museums (Louvre in Paris & Prado in Madrid), and saw Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Picasso's Guernica.

I have come far too close in the wild with the world´s largest land and sea mammal (elephants and whales, respectively).

Throughout the year, I lived with people from Bolivia, China, Hungary, India, Japan, Kenya, and Spain.

One Hungarian roommate taught me how to drive a manual transmission in Reykjavik. Many thanks to the patient Icelandic drivers who tolerated my constant stalling at intersections :)

Although I missed out on many new films, I watched The Dark Knight in Reykjavik and Quantum of Solace in Dublin.

My culinary experiences grew just as fast; I saw & ate foods I never thought possible (mostly in Ghana & Iceland) - including goat, whale, bush rat, blood pudding, rotten shark, and sheep's head.

There were lots of drinks along the way: the highlights being Oktoberfest in Munich, Guinness in Ireland's oldest pub, wine under the Eiffel Tower, apeteshie at the Fire Festival in Northern Ghana, sangria in Madrid's Plaza Mayor, brennavin in downtown Reykjavik, and port in Lisbon's Palace Square. I learned how to say "toast" in all the local languages.

In Spain, I caught glimpses of traditional culture through Flamenco dancing and bull fights, performed in much the same way as it was in past centuries.

I stood on bridges and aqueducts built by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago.

And last but not least, I spent an afternoon in a penis museum in Husavik, Iceland.



Of course, not all of it has been fun & games.

It is always annoying to live out of one's suitcase, but I know few who have done it for months at a time. Or six.

Virtually all my time abroad has been in countries where English is not the primary language.

I have bared witness to abject poverty, starvation, diseases like Guinea worm, and people whose only source of water resembles a large mud hole located several miles away. I have lived in places without running water or reliable electricity. I have been awoken by rats chewing on my bed and animals walking on the roof. I know in certain places this is simply a way of life, and in other countries people are much, much worse off.

Having these wonderful experiences while simultaneously seeing how others live has burdened me with a substantial amount of guilt, a natural reaction of watching others toil without getting to enjoy life to the same degree. I still haven´t figured out how to justify much of my lifestyle when thinking of starving children, a concept starkly more sobering when experienced in first person and not as pictures on tv. The reality is these people are real, there are a lot of them, and they live less than a day's travel away.

By all accounts, this has been a hell of a year for me.

Despite how this can be read, I don't say it to brag. If anything, traveling has hopefully instilled some much-needed humility. When abroad, you are the idiot and everyone else knows what's going on. There are barriers to understanding, the most obvious two being language and a lack of knowledge of local customs. But overcoming these obstacles, or even just briefly peeking over them, is the joy of traveling.

While it has been a lot fun, the truth is that I often feel isolated. It's incredibly frustrating to have these wonderful stories and few people to share them with. I suppose part of my desire to write this blog has been to address that.

"What have I learned" is a difficult question to answer, not for a lack of substance but because I find it hard to coalesce my impressions. Or even if I do, finding a way to express them into words is often beyond my ability.

I have a greater appreciation for things I took for granted, whether it be a safe place to sleep, a hot shower, or even having a friend to talk to.

My time abroad leads me to believe most people often want the same basic things out of life (no matter how different the cultures), and happiness is very weakly correlated to personal wealth. People in Ghana smile the most of any country I've visited.

Seeing cultures live in such different ways has altered my way of viewing the world. I now see my beliefs and ideas of "right and wrong" as but one in a set of many.

I expect 2009 to be much more "normal" (indeed I will be surprised if any calendar year tops this one), but I do plan on living out my last three months abroad to its fullest.

Overall, I'd like to think my travels have made me a more caring, open-minded person. And I hope they continue to do so.