Leaving Your Comfort Zone

I'm back!

Something that was important to me on my trip was leaving my comfort zone a little, trying new things. I've come to believe this is a really important aspect of traveling, and I'm not sure if it's really possible to get a truly great experience if you don't leave your comfort zone a little to really be able to immerse yourself in the places you're going. Obviously, we all have different comfort zones. If you're already someone who's open to everything and never apprehensive to try new things, I guess this doesn't apply to you. But I don't really think there are all that many people like that; by our nature, we are creatures of habit and we like what we're used to. So here's what I tried to do and some things I learned on my trip.

Of course, for some people, just going to a faraway place would be leaving their comfort zone. Especially for those of us who travel alone, that in itself is a huge leap out of the comfort zone - I had certainly never eaten in a restaurant or stayed in a hotel all by myself, nor had I really ever taken a train before. But I did my research and pushed the apprehension to the back of my mind and I think allowing myself to be free made my trip a better one.

Food

I'm a picky eater. OK, I'm a REALLY picky eater. I'm a REALLY REALLY picky eater. So I knew, going to places I'd never been before, places where I didn't speak the language or really know their foods, that I'd have to be a little adventurous. Obviously, we are all different kinds of "eaters" - but I think the important thing is for us - especially people like me who are really really picky - to try to get out of that a little bit. I didn't go crazy. But for me, I tried lots of things that I never normally ate - like artichokes in both Barcelona and Rome, chicken prepared in ways I normally wouldn't have thought I'd like, some wines here and there, pasta with sauce (yes, I'm THAT picky.), fruits I'd never seen, heck, i even tried a MUSSEL (I HATE seafood!).

Some of it I liked, and some of it I didn't, but for me, the important thing is that I tried. I pushed myself as much as I could - for me being so picky and apprehensive, my food "experiments" might seem laughable to some but for me they were a big deal. For others who normally like more things that I do, stepping out of the food comfort zone may not be as big a deal. For me, it was.

Language

Before my trip to Europe, I had never really been to a country that didn't speak English. I'd been to Quebec, but I was too young to really get all of the cultural significance. Aside from the fact that it's simply polite to learn a few words of the local language when you're traveling in a country, for me, it was important for me to push myself too. In some places it was more difficult - the language is harder or sometimes even (especially in Amsterdam and Copenhagen), people actually addressed me in English. But in some countries, particularly Italy, I really pushed myself to learn as much Italian as I could.

Of course, 2 days before I left for Europe I took the bar exam, so I couldn't really study any languages, but while I was en route to a country, i'd pull out my phrasebook and learn the important things. By the time I made it to my last country - Italy - I really wanted to try to speak more of the local language - and because I was staying in the country for a good 2 weeks, I had time to. By the time I made it to Florence, I could sit in a restaurant and barely have to speak any English for the basics - ordering, asking for the bill, etc. By the time I was getting ready to leave Italy, "si" and "grazie" became just as natural to me as "yes" and "thank you." I think pushing myself helped me as a person but also gave me a better perhaps more "authentic" experience while I was there.


In the end, it's the little things. Taking a bus or the subway or the train for the first time, eating one or two new foods, buying a piece of clothing you never thought you'd wear, speaking some words in a language you never thought you'd speak; these are just a few of the countless examples. And they can really be life-changing. If I come home and try more new foods or if I try to recreate the foods I tried and liked while I was away, if someone comes home and takes a bus for the first time or signs up for a language class or even a photography class. These are the things that, if we keep our minds open when we travel, we can have more than a vacation. It can become a life-changing event, even in a small way.