The Inner Journey Through the Outer World

After reading this prompt for the week, I was completely perplexed.  How can one simply decide on a single, BEST learning experience?  Through the many relationships, classroom settings, leadership development opportunities and many more factors, which one do you choose?

While being completely perplexed on this topic as I decide, I like to imagine I am on a beach while going down memory lane of the many defined learning experiences in my life...

While on my "imaginary beach," the many learning experiences are flowing to the forefront of my mind.  There are some memories that are slightly dusty that haven't been looked at for a while.
They include:
 - Learning how to write cursive
 - Learning how to fish with my dad
 - Learning to play tennis

While those memories are golden in their own ways, another type of memories stand out among the rest, and that my good friends, is traveling!

I have been fortunate to have been able to travel out of the country several times, as well as travel through out the United States.  Traveling is my number one passion in life!  I'm always down to go to new places, see new sights, and experience the unknown.  What really kicked this into gear for me was during my junior year of high school when I made the great decision of going on a 3 week travel abroad to Italy with a teacher from my school and several other students.

Italy. Yes Italy.  My first European country and most definitely not going to be my last (fingers crossed).  The teacher I traveled with became basically a second mom to me (still keep in touch with her) and the group I was with was just awesome.  We began our trip by landing in Venice, Italy, and being picked up by boat from the airport to take us to where we were staying.  From there we traveled to northern Italy and then went down on the southern coast of the Mediterranean before leaving out of Rome after stopping in 13 different cities.  I saw the Vatican, swam in the Mediterranean, had Italian wine in Tuscany, experienced the Island of Dreams: Capri, visited the ancient city of Pompeii, went to a music concert, took shots under the moonlight on top of a hotel on a mountain, interacted on an Italian island that was traditional in so many ways, really felt what FIFA is all about, and so much more.  I could go on and on...but seriously.  So why is this trip my best learning experience?

Well, this trip really taught me relevance of experiencing history and culture in real life which is something you can grasp immensely better than just looking at pictures or reading about it.  Even my pictures that I have from this trip do not do any justice for Italy (1500 pics in total).  It can become so easy to find yourself in a personal bubble in the day-to-day mode where you feel nothing really exists except what is happening around YOU.  But when you take a second to experience a new place, it pops that bubble into a realization that life is moving by so fast and that you need to do something about it, or just be left behind understanding nothing.  I learned about a new culture, being surrounded by history, tasted new foods & drinks, interacted with locals, and simply life itself.  Never in my life up to the point of this trip had I experienced as much at once!.  I had traveled with my family before to new places, but something about being on your own in a foreign place really speaks more.  (I could literally talk for hours about travels I have been on, want to go on, and where other people have been!)

My challenge to anyone who wants new learning memories...go travel!  Seriously, take the opportunity whenever it arises and travel, travel, and don't stop traveling!

Here are some pictures from my trip that I took:

(Pompeii)

(Coliseum) 

(The Spanish Steps)

(Entrance to a historical part of Rome)

(Venice)

Ciao,

- JBall