This isn’t my first time abroad, or my first time blogging about being abroad. Two summers ago I studied abroad on a Northwestern IPD program in Beijing, China. This fall I spent three months on a NOLS semester in New Zealand — backpacking, kayaking and canoeing. Now I am headed off to the Old World. Barcelona called and I answered. But before I could get there, I had to cross the Atlantic.
Interestingly, I have found that no matter how many times I have been on a plane, gone to a new school, or crossed an ocean; my stomach still seizes with anticipation when each new adventure begins.
Luckily though, the more I travel the less nervous I feel. I am practicing the art of travel. It’s just like practicing piano for a recital when you are 10. Believe me, practice really does make perfect is not just a cliché.
The most important item I pack on any trip is my travel mantra: Shut up, just smile.
When I first started traveling a lot, I found myself wishing that the old woman in front of me would move more quickly, that parents wouldn’t travel with infants, and that people would remember to “PLEASE HAVE YOUR ID AND TICKET OUT FOR SCREENING.” I would get frustrated. I would sigh, grunt, grumble and huff.
But one day on a flight to Chicago, I realized something important. I’m not the center of the universe. Not everyone follows my travel schedule and knows that I am running late.
I also asked myself an important question, why am I getting so stressed out? It seems silly, but I never realized that the main reason for my anger at other passengers was my own stress level.
It takes an honest effort, but I combat travel stress everywhere I go by smiling. When fellow travelers start to get snippy at each other and flight attendants start yelling, I smile and say to myself, “Hey, that’s your stress, not mine, and I am not going to make your stress a part of my day.”
On my flight to Barcelona from Newark — Newark gets a bad rap, but I thought it was a nice airport — two fellow travelers with a child were running late. When they got on the plane someone else had taken their seat already. They started to yell at the people in their seats, the flight attendants began to badger them for their tardiness, the child began to cry and other passengers began to mutter unhappily.
Instead of getting angry, I turned to the person next to me and said, “Wow, everyone is way too stressed out.” He had been muttering about sitting near the child, but he laughed and agreed. It’s amazing what a laugh does to diffuse someone’s tension. As the parents began to settle into their seats they looked around to glare back at the other passengers on the plane who were still feeling salty, but when the mother looked at me, I smiled. And she did too. She dropped the glare and smiled back. She didn’t glare again after that.
I said I wouldn’t let the obstacle and delay get me stressed and it worked. That will be a part of my mantra during my sojourn in Barcelona for 6 months. Travel is slow and there will be delays. But delays aren’t the end of the world. Just because my bag gets lost in transit doesn’t mean the world will implode. And maybe I can be a Zen influence on those around me too.
Okay, no more whining or stressing. I will breathe deep, count to ten, and flash my most winning smile. I have my mantra in my pocket and I’m ready for any study abroad challenge.
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