The Seven Benefits of Travel - Part One

The Power of “Good-Bye”



So, to start with the first benefit for travelling, one must think of what happens before actually travelling. Saying Good-bye! You never really say good-bye to everyone you know. You choose who you say good-bye to; especially when your time before leaving is limited, and you know a lot of people. You also notice who cares enough to put in the time and effort to say good-bye to you. There is absolutely nothing good about good-bye except for the fact that it presents the first benefit for travelling. It allows you to know who you really care about the most, and who really cares about you.

I said my last good-bye the day before I left to The USA. I went out with my best friend for coffee. We sat, talked about the future plans we had, drank coffee, laughed, and then I drove her home. My best friend is an American living in Amman for three years now. I keep teasing her that I’m going to America while she has to stay there. She is the American living in Jordan, and I will be the Jordanian living in America. When we arrived to her house, I didn’t want to say the word. And, I could see in her eyes that she didn’t want to say it either. I think good-bye is only good when you say it to someone you really don’t like or at the least don’t mind seeing walk away.

I couldn’t say good-bye to my family because I would have started crying. My sister held me tight and didn’t let go for a long time, and to tell the truth, I didn’t want to either. my mum had tears in her eyes that would have definitely made us both cry had I said the actual words. Some students of mine took the time to call – up to three times - in the week before I left. They didn’t know when I was leaving for sure and didn’t want to miss the opportunity of saying good-bye to me. On the other hand, some people I’ve known over years settled for a text message. And some I thought were close friends didn’t even bother.

I went through my first homesickness experience immediately the next day I arrived to my host institution in Florida; the second week in the USA. I’m used to travelling all the time but I never stayed away from my family for over a week whenever I travelled. Naturally, the first week I spent in Michigan for the orientation felt more like a vacation to me. We had each minute planned with either classes or a fun activity afterwards. I learned ice-skating. I made new friends. I simply had a good time. All during that first week, I’m ashamed to confess that I didn’t even think about home once, nor did I feel like I miss my family, which was a feeling not so uncommon among the other Fulbrighters I was with at the time. I arrived to Florida on the 11^th of August at 9 pm and was taken by my supervisor directly to a very nice, spacious, beautiful house that would be my residence for the next 9 months! (You can see the pictures on Face book on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150341064288824.398965.704688823&l=38ef66799f&type=1 )

I was touring the campus after I had gone shopping earlier. It was Friday afternoon, and my supervisor had just gone home for the weekend. I was all by myself for the very first time since I got to the US. I had taken my laptop and asked my supervisor to drive me to the nearest building with Wi-Fi , since I didn’t have a connection where I’m staying, to try and call my family for the first time since I had left. The building was all empty and literally cold. No one was in sight which wouldn’t normally be a problem to me. I set up for a Skype call with my sister whom I texted to come on line to chat. I was talking to her when mum came along and asked me to turn my webcam on. I did and so did they. And, at that moment, I don’t know what came over me.

 The moment I saw their faces I felt strange. I just wished I was there with them sharing their Sahoor and company. I wanted to squeeze my little nephew so tight and kiss him. I wanted to put my arms around my dad and mum and tell them how much I love them. I wanted to be in that room with my sister chatting late at night in the dark while trying to sleep. The last thing I wanted at that moment was to be in the US. And I couldn’t help but cry.

 I never cried when saying good-bye before – regardless of circumstance! Now, I was crying a week after. I made sure they didn’t know anything was going on for I didn’t want them to worry. But for the rest of that day, I couldn’t stop crying. I was so depressed. I was thinking, without much logic, what a big mistake I’ve made coming here and what I was missing out on. A very good friend of mine was on chat at the same time while I was talking to my family, and he knew what was going on. He was so supportive, comforting and helpful. He talked some sense in me – which is really a challenging task if you knew me at all. And, because of him, I didn’t feel lonely by the end of the night, and I went back to being my cheerful, optimistic self. I owe him a lot, and I don’t feel I thanked him enough. My best friend in Amman was also cheering me up her own way. She was telling me how normal that was and sending me links and articles on homesickness and how to deal with it. Because of good-bye, I now know truly who cares for me. I also know for whom I care the most. I believe that’s the greatest benefit of travel – you discover things, and people, you would never have discovered any other way.

To be continued…