To come back with pieces of the world in your head and hands

As you travel, you have this freedom to explore and pick up certain aspects of a culture that resonate with you, that you can then integrate into your day to day. One of my favourite parts about living in another country is the way it has altered my daily lifestyle in permanent ways. Whether it’s incorporating different types of food into my own diet or listening to new genres of music. On a deeper level, travel makes you tougher as you find yourself having to navigate cultural differences and crises that come with constantly being on the move, whether it’s getting off at the wrong bus station or unknowingly entering the more dangerous part of a city.

I thought I would use this post to share the various pieces of the world as well as skills that have come back with me to Canada. While you may never have the opportunity to go to these countries, it doesn’t mean you can’t explore and integrate different parts of another culture into your everyday routine.

A love for languages

Having travelled to a variety of countries while staying for extended periods in two of them, I have come to appreciate and develop a genuine love for languages.

Initially, I was frustrated by the fact that I was moving around all the time, picking up half or one quarter of a language without ever becoming fluent in any of them. Yet I have started to look past this, as there is a subtle beauty about being able to communicate in another language, even if you only have a few words and phrases at your disposal.

What has deepened my love for other languages is the smile it brings to someone’s face, clearly recognizing that it is not your mother tongue, they appreciate your willingness to engage in an important element of their culture. Whether you are simply ordering a coffee or attempting to have a deeper conversation around a dinner table, filling in the words you don’t know with your own language as well as a multitude of hand gestures, you start to forge memories with these new words. As you keep stumbling through this foreign vocabulary, the mystery that once enveloped these words begins to dissolve as you start to associate emotional experiences in this new mode of communication. As you recall the phrases and expressions upon your return, it has this time travel like power, transporting you back into that hole in the wall espresso bar you used to frequent or that dinner with native inhabitants, their quiet smiles encouraging you to continue as you stumble through something that comes so naturally to them.

Perhaps the most beautiful part comes you finally stop feeling as self-conscious about how you sound to native speakers. You boldly say what you want to say, accepting it may not sound grammatically correct, but nonetheless does the job in getting the point across.

Through my experiences abroad, picking up a second language has become so much more to me than being able to add a desired qualification to my resume as it is often portrayed by teachers and fellow professionals. Rather, I have enjoyed being able to express myself in new ways, intrigued by the way certain words fit together that would never make sense in English. But more importantly, I love how the experiences and meaningful exchanges I have had in different languages has broken down the barriers that once made these words feel so foreign and unknown to me.

Now, when I go to the store back home and I see a balsamic vinegar labelled Aceto Balsamico de Modena, I smile as I was introduced to this region and product in the aisles of a real Italian grocer. And I cannot deny the feeling of being able to show off new skills upon returning home, as you can simply rattle of any words whether they make sense or not to impress friends and family.

Being comfortable in the uncomfortable

Let’s face it: Going to a new country, whether you are living there or just on vacation can have its share of awkward, and even scary moments. With no means to contact mom and dad when things go wrong, you are forced to find your own way out of whatever sticky situation you may find yourself in. As your time overseas progresses and the number of traumatic experiences under your belt grows, you start to develop a new level of self-confidence and resourcefulness that comes from having successfully found a solution to each problem.

So now, when my car breaks down and I have somewhere to be, instead of breaking down along with it, I think back to almost not having a place to rest my head on the Croatian coast at the uncomfortable hour of 2 am or the moment I looked up to see the train, with my friends on it starting to roll away with me on the platform. After recalling such memories, I then think to myself, “I’ll figure it out, it may take a while but I’ll be ok”.

A transformed kitchen

My kitchen has a whole new array of items in it after having been introduced to a variety of dishes and combinations of ingredients I had never seen before.

One of my favourites, while simple, came from the kitchen of a woman who lives in a remote village high up in the Andes of Peru. On a cold wintery evening, I had the pleasure of sharing in this meal with both her and her daughter. While offering my help, she ordered me to sit as she peeled the beets fresh from her garden as well as carrots, sprinkling some salt on them before dropping them into a large metal pot. She then drizzled some oil and began to serve a meal she not only made in her kitchen but planted the seeds for in the green earth that stretched up the sides of mountains to the sky around her home. While I love the vegetables in this salad, my fondness for it is embedded in the memories it brings back. I think about how this simple mix from the Peruvian mountains has made its way to my table as well as my friends who have come to appreciate the backstory behind it.

From Italy, I also have a whole new array of items lining my shelves. My favourites being; Balsamic Vinegar, tomatoes and coffee. After a long day of class at the university, I would get dinner on the stove and satisfy my hunger with an appetizer consisting of some greens and slices of some big, and juicy red tomatoes with a good serving of Balsamic. Together, this simple combination creates a bitter and beautiful awakening for my taste buds.

Before Italy, I never drank coffee. After my first couple of espressos and cappuccino's I developed a new addicition that has become part of my morning routine.

Music

One of the cultural pieces that has come back with me from time spent doing an internship in Peru was a love and appreciation for other types of music. In Peru, I was introduced to the world of Reggaeton. Today, I continue to search Spotify for Latina stations and tunes on the South American Hot 100.

Memories

When you meet up with old friends who have also been where you have now been, it creates a special bond between you. Over dinner or coffee, you begin to share your experiences, triggering their own unique set of memories. You get excited as these people truly understand your experience in ways others can’t, as they know the smells you smelt, the way it sounded and general feeling that comes with being in that particular city.

I had the opportunity to do this the other night with a friend and mentor of mine who invited me over for dinner to catch up. As I shared about my time in Paris with him, he immediately lit up, with both him and his wife telling me about their favourite parts from the Luxembourg Gardens to Mouffetard Street, we were able to relive the magic of the place despite being in the suburbs of Ottawa.

While the countries I have been to are now oceans and continents away, parts of them live on in my everyday life. Everytime I drink an espresso from a tiny cup or begin to boil some chopped up beets and carrots, I smile because they aren't simply ingredients or coffee mixes but small pieces of places that will forever hold a special place in my heart.

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