La Vida Idealist

As my Introduction to Marketing professor told us on the first day, it’s all about location, a rule that spreads well beyond the world of advertising and real estate. Too often in life, people allow their to geographical position to define them.  Tyler seems trapped by the repetition of Chicago and Michael feels stagnant in Clive because that’s home and, while comfortable, home is never interesting.

Why does it all change the moment we pack our toothbrush? Apples always taste a little sweeter when they are called manzanas and books have a more profound message when read on the steps of a 16th Century cathedral. But it’s the same Dole apple that your local supermarket stocks and you bought the CliffsNotes because the paperback bored you so much in college.

Collage of Living

My point is that travelers commonly fall into routines that are not that different from those at home and use their surroundings as justification for satisfaction. After a Monday evening of American television shows in bed to the gentle crunch of Frosted Flakes, I decided that some changes must be made in my daily life.

I invented the Collage of Living, for which I could regrettably not find a more cliché name, to ensure that my time abroad was spent efficiently. Everyday I do one new and interesting thing, write it on a note card with the date, and tape it to my wall. There are currently (at the time of publishing) 15 first-time experiences decorating my bedroom, one for every day since I started on June 22. My sense of reality was recently shaken like a Guatemalan volcanic tremble, but my goal is still to make cleaning that wall when I leave Antigua a real chore. My first (of many) 15 days:

June 22: Spoke every work conversation en espanol
June 23: Wrote a poem in the park
June 24: Took a morning walk before walking to work
June 25: Scored eight points and had two steals in a game of wheelchair basketball
June 26: Hiked an active volcano (Pacaya)
June 27: Solicited new friends
June 28: Ran 31 minutes in Hurricane Alex
June 29: Visited an American embassy
June 30: Splurged on expensive ice cream during an afternoon with new friends
July 1: Started managing my first volunteer at work
July 2: Played one-on-one basketball against a guy with an artificial leg
July 3: Had a night of art, wine, and “culture”
July 4: Loved someone enough to be completely crushed
July 5: Invented a new yoga pose: The Trembling Fetal Position
July 6: Shared a pot of coffee and a splitting headache for breakfast with my lovely and caring roommates and had the realization that only a select few in this world are “ham,” if I may be so bold as to reference Grey’s Anatomy

Regardless of whether you are drinking one of St. Louis’ finest in Geneva, Illinois or Santiago, Chile tonight, remember to let your actions define you, not the city. If you need a bit of help, I’ll gladly mail you some note cards and masking tape to get you started.

Andrew Garberson is the Director of Communications for the Transitions Foundation in Antigua, Guatemala.

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