Two Young Travelers - Column 1 - The world's not so large anymore

	Sign In Sign-Up

Global Tales from Two Young Travelers

The world’s not so large anymore

By Emily Reisch

It’s become like an addiction for me. Putting myself in a totally foreign world and being immersed in the unfamiliar is irresistible. The travel bug hasn’t simply bitten – he’s sunk his teeth in and isn’t planning on letting go anytime soon.

Right now, I’m in Sweden. My fiancé, Jon, and I are studying at the Jönköping University in Jönköping, Sweden, for the next five months. We’ll travel all over Scandinavia during our free time. When classes are over, we’ll spend the following month and a half backpacking throughout Europe. We were just in England for two weeks, celebrating New Year’s Eve in London and visiting Manchester, Sheffield, Harrogate and York with friends. An overnight ferry took us across the North Sea to Sweden.

Neither of us ever imagined that we’d be going overseas for the third time in our lives before we were 24.

We’re both farm kids, growing up near traditional South Dakota small towns, but on opposite ends of the state. How did we get lucky enough to be able to expand our horizons so far, beyond our small town experiences and even past the borders of the USA?

Jon went to Newell High School and grew up on an irrigated farm a mile from Nisland, which has a population of about 200. My roots are firmly imbedded in Howard; my dad has lived in our house on the farm his entire life.

We both chose to attend South Dakota State University with Ag majors. We’d met in FFA in high school, but never dreamed that someday we’d be going overseas together and getting married when we returned.

When we first started telling people we’d be spending the next seven months overseas we’d always get quite a reaction. Most of the time, it was “I can’t believe you’re doing that!” “What do your parents think?” “I wish I could go too.” “I’d never leave the county – it’s too dangerous now.” “I wish I’d had that chance.” “Aren’t you scared after September 11th?”

We’ve decided that we’re not going to live wishing we could go places and do things. We’re just going to do it. It’s going to be a challenge, we know that, and that is what makes the experience great.

Jon spent time in Germany through FFA, also visiting Paris and studying in Israel and Egypt. I studied in Manchester, England through another SDSU exchange program. I backpacked alone through 14 countries after that. This summer, I traveled to Bolivia with a group of SDSU students to the university in Carmen Pampa.

We’ve been preparing for this trip for almost a year. Actually leaving is nerve wracking and stomach churning. There’s no going back now, not that you’d want to, but the realization that you won’t see a familiar face from home for most of the year sets in.

You worry about making new friends and fitting in. You wonder if anyone back home is going to miss you – will they forget about you? Things will change and life goes on without you. How many times will you get lost? What if you get robbed or lose your passport? Can you learn enough of the language to get by? What if a loved one dies while you’re gone? Challenges make traveling the unforgettable experience that it is.

Anyone can travel. The world is so small now. There are plenty of opportunities for students to study overseas. Inexpensive plane tickets can be found. Budget accommodations abound in Europe – and they’re an excellent place to meet like-minded world travelers. English is almost a global language now.

The most important thing about traveling is getting to understand another culture. I don’t want to be just another loud American snapping a few photos of landmarks and comparing everything to home. I want to be absorbed in a different culture. I want it to affect who I am and how I feel about the world. And I want to share my experiences with everyone that I can.

Throughout the next several months, Jon and I will be writing about our experiences abroad. We’ve only been in Sweden for a couple weeks, and already we’ve had many small adventures we’ll share with you in our future columns.