by Megan Kysylyczyn
In the cold of January, I went to Thailand for 2 weeks. It was a wildly amazing experience that lasted forever but flashed before my eyes. I had the privilege of traveling with Dr. Catherine Solheim who knows Thailand well and five other students. During the trip and upon returning I’ve had some realizations about the value of security, being fluent in a language, and building familiarity or a home wherever you go and the far reaching effects that has in your life.
While I can’t begin to imagine the stress and anxiety felt leaving one’s home country to move to a new one, I appreciate my security in my home country more now. The United States hasn’t had war on its soil in a very long time which brings a level of security and ease to my life I didn’t fully appreciate or even recognize beforehand.
I was continually reminded of what it’s like to navigate a country you don’t know the language in, and I’d argue that there was even an adequate amount in English in Thailand. In Chiang Mai’s airport, some labels were in English, Thai, and another language or two, and the government, royal family, and temple buildings typically had Thai and English on them. In the U.S. we don’t do things like that, not even in airports. Part of the issue could be that the U.S. has such a variety of other languages spoken it would be hard to decide which languages to print.
My last big realization had to do with building home wherever you go. It’s something I’ve worked on while traveling in the U.S., but I’ve always traveled with family or my boyfriend. Thailand was my first trip where I didn’t know the people I was going with. What’s always rang true for me is the belief that I’ll never grow if I don’t get out of my comfort zone. Writing this now, that seems like such a privileged thing to say. I am someone who can decide when to go outside of their comfort zone. There are people everywhere who essentially live their lives outside their comfort zones. There were parts of my life when I was younger where that was the case for my parents. I never realized it before.
On our trip, I had some belongings with me to remind me of home, and I think our group created a familiarity and type of home with each other. It wasn’t until we met up after the trip to do a recap that I fully realized we all felt outside of our comfort zone at first and we all shared a bond now. I bring this realization now into my class discussions at the University of Minnesota; there are immigrants, refugees, and migrant workers who need to create a sense of home wherever they are, whether it’s their choice to move or they’ve been forced to. There are homeless people and people who spend a lot of time in transitional housing who master this skill too. In a sense, creating familiarity and home wherever you go is related to utilizing one’s social capital. It’s a way of fostering resilience and coping.
On this trip I learned more than I ever thought I would. It was an eye-opening experience that I am so privileged and grateful to have had. With my family’s background traveling abroad was a dream I thought would only happen years from now. I made it happen and have benefited immensely. Taking all of this forward, I’ve promised myself I will continue to travel abroad when possible and learn as much as I can from other cultures at home and abroad. Here I plan to continue to expand my palette by trying different places to eat that are owned by immigrants and refugees, and attending different cultural celebrations that are open to the public.