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Blogs (Fall 2009)

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Epiphany in Venice
The Real Lesson is in the Journey
Stranger Danger
The Other Side of the Ocean
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Would you really want
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Blogs

Travel around my Room

Submitted by Gabe on Sat, 11/21/2009 - 20:53
  • Art of Travel Fall 09
  • 15. On habit
  • Travel Room

Closet: not actually my closetCloset: not actually my closet

I like the idea of “room travel.” I think that “room travel” is first of all indicative of the fact that travel does not need to be long distances or even new. One can travel around one's room or one's country while receiving the “travelers experience.” By travelers experience, I simply mean whatever is gained from traveling. Room travel is especially interesting because it is in a place where you spend so much time that to find new things in your room are even more interesting than finding a new place on a walk, or trip, or whatever other way one travels.
I tend to travel around my room a lot. It is not my room per se, but it is the room I have been sleeping in for three months. In the dressers in my room are not my clothes, but rather stacks of hand written notes of my host moms about all her clients. My mom is a social worker that works from home. In my closet there are many jackets that are owned by my host family and not even not enough room for my clothes. There is a desk in my room with no chair and a computer that is busted. Every once in a while I will travel my room by reading the things in the dressers or going through the family's albums that are stored underneath the computer.
In some senses, when I travel my room, I invade the privacy of my family who keep things in my room with a tacit agreement that I won't touch them. On the other hand, I am so curious as to what is lying in my room that is so much a part of me. It is where I sleep, wake up, eat, watch television, and talk to my parents. In such an intimate place, there is so much unfamiliar. In that respect my room is slightly mentally uncomfortable.
My room is also physically uncomfortable. It is too hot with not much ventilation. There is a door to the balcony that when open cools the room, but also literally opens the door to the noise in the street. Therefore at night when I try to go to sleep, I either die by noise or heat. Usually, I choose to die by noise.
When I travel around my room, it is important to understand the physical and metal comfortableness of my room which adds another aspect to traveling around my room. Not only is traveling around my room investigatory, it is also a search for something that just might make my room just a little bit more comfortable.  

  • Gabe's blog

Room travel

Submitted by Sartorialista on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 16:59.

I think its great how you took this article to heart, by exploring your room from the perspective of a tourist or outsider. It was really interesting to read because it tells us so many things about the world and the situation your living in.  Its strange to think of a room, especially your own, as uncomfortable and unwelcoming, but I feel as though it offers a greater complexity to your time abroad. It gives you a greater perspective on what it means to be an outsider, while also inviting you to explore your new country more deeply.

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