Expanding Minds and Lives by Travel by Viviana

Expanding Minds and Lives by Travel by Viviana - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

What a phenomenal concept! I do not know a single person who has traveled, either this year or 40 years ago, who, when they talk about their time abroad, doesn’t do it with excitement, with a special twinkle in their eyes. From the people that we meet when we travel abroad, to the places we see, the languages we hear, and most of all, what happens in our minds, and in our hearts during and after we travel… the shifts in perspective, the expansion, the knowledge that only hands-on experience can bring, the culture, the curiosity awakened, the fears faced and overcome, the rise in self-confidence, and a better understanding of other cultures and peoples, their belief systems, customs, etc. All of these factors are enriching in ways that cannot be calculated. A life is indeed transformed by traveling abroad.

We live in a quick-expanding world, and thanks to technology, travel is made possible even to the most hidden corners of the world previously only dreamed of, or read about in the books of the few and brave explorers. Those days are gone, thankfully, and now we all can experience the world, as much as we want. It is a matter of what we value most, and for those who value travel, even if their resources are scarce, they find a way to provide for travel because it is a high priority for them. Travel seems to possess an addictive property, but this is an addiction that enriches in ways only travel can.

In our current political climate it is very important to expand our horizons. Academic education, coupled with the education that travel abroad brings is a powerful duo whose potential for good will be irrepressible and invaluable in generations to come when the world will need that we, its citizens, become more and more homogeneous, more understanding of one another, more tolerant and more and harmonious in our differences.

We are far more likely to cooperate with one another if we know one another. This is a wonderfully new and fresh reality that would not have been thought of in the days of the cold war. In psychology there is a term called “superordinate goals” that refers to the single most effective method to counteract prejudice. This principle teaches that when two groups, formerly pitted against each other find themselves in a place where they have to cooperate with each other in order to reach a common good, it results in the weakening of the separating and divisive ideas and eventually their disappearance, as people realize that we are much more the same than we are different, and that to collaborate for the common good is the highest form of self-service as well as service to others.

There remain borders that are closed-off in the world; a few countries that remain too fearful to open up to the rest of the world, but them too, one day, it is possible to bring in the universal fellowship where solutions can be worked that serve all. This sounds very global and it is, and it does begin with exposure; with the kind of exposure that travel abroad brings. Knowledge is an imperative of our day, and few things educate more highly and more enduringly than traveling to other countries. For us in America it means crossing one of the two oceans; most likely the Atlantic, and exploring the old world. How exciting it is!! To see architecture dating back even all the way back to the beginning of our calendar and before! Let alone buildings that are 500-800 years old that proliferate everywhere in most European countries. This is enriching, exciting and uplifting!

In psychology, superordinate goals refer to goals that require the cooperation of two or more people or groups to achieve, which usually results in rewards to the groups.

Viviana Rose
Angelo State University
Applied Psychology Graduate Program
830-426-0192