Confronting oneself to difference to find oneself back

Résumé du document

Travels are among the most important experiences one can recall. To understand why they are so appealing, one must consider the gap that exists between the expectations they have of the trip, and what they actually find during it. Just like Christopher Columbus landing in America in 1492, we are forced to wonder who we are, when we meet newness. Going on a vacation, is a dream many hold dear. However, few are able to make it come true. It is difficult to explain why one wants to go away, and it is even harder to try and explain what one experiences. People often leave because they feel the need to discover new places; what often happens is that they discover more about themselves than about the country they are visiting. By presenting themselves to strangers, they become aware of their identity, which they rejected before they left.

Extraits

[...] Confronting oneself to difference to find oneself back Travels are among the most important experiences one can recall. To understand why they are so appealing, one must consider the gap that exists between the reasons that forces them to go away and what they actually find all along their trip. Just like Christopher Columbus landing in America in 1492, we are forced to wonder who we are when we meet newness. Going away is a dream many hold dear but few are those who make it come true. [...]

[...] It was there that I discovered that the old folks knew what they were talking about; I found myself, willy-nilly, alchemized into an American the moment I touched French soil”. For instance, the 2007 French film 2 days in Paris tells the story of a French girl and her American boyfriend in Paris. It shows how difficult it is for this man to persuade his girlfriend's family that he knows about French culture, that he did not vote for George W. Bush for president, that he does not eat only in fast-food restaurants, and finally to combat all the prejudices they have against America in general. [...]

[...] I won't let anybody say this is the best age in life”. He thus decides to go abroad, to forget about his parents, his professors, his town, women; he takes a boat to Aden, the city he has always dreamt of as the most exotic place on earth. A contrary example would be that of Alexis de Tocqueville, who did not leave France because he could not stand it anymore, but went to visit the United States in the mid-nineteenth century in order to understand the political and social system of a country he found ahead of its time. [...]

[...] Going away may help one find the life they had been expecting. Bibliography Nizan, Paul. Aden Arabie Tocqueville, Alexis de. De la démocratie en Amérique. Delpy, Julie Days in Paris. 2007. [...]

[...] Trying to show that one is more than what one seems to be forces people to re-think over the image they give of themselves. This image is completely subsumed when one is in their homeland, where a habit or a character may seem normal, and when meeting new cultures, one has the opportunity to look at themselves more directly, without the prism of habits or cultural references. By going abroad, one would think they would meet new people, but they actually meet themselves. [...]