Abstract
In my personal journey essay, “There, Then Back There Again”, I combine personal reflection with travel writing to explore my own conflicted feelings about traveling. I love to travel and hope to one day be able to travel more than I have been able to thus far. It is in my recent trip to Ecuador to study abroad that I started to grapple with concerns about the impact my traveling could have on the communities and environments around me. I began noticing the economic conditions of various neighborhoods we traveled through, as well as learned about environmental impacts of human activities in the Amazon and Galapagos. Couple this with a sharp awareness of the growing ecotourism trade and I found myself looking at my surroundings differently. Even in the presence of stunning mountain vistas with soaring condors, sitting atop rushing waters winding its way to join the Amazon River, or watching sea lions walking down the boardwalk to find a prime sunning spot, Ecuador opened my eyes to look below the mundane tourist traps and see the bigger, more complicated relationships of nature and humans, politics and culture, capitalism and survival. Before Ecuador traveling was about personal enjoyment. After Ecuador, it’s about learning, growing beyond simple consumerism, and then sharing my journey with those who can’t go themselves.
Highlights
By the time I was a freshman in high school, I had attended seven different schools in two different states
As my interests have broadened through continuing my education, I still want to experience breathtaking vistas, share the boardwalk with sea lions, and sample local cuisine in places outside my comfort zone
The young girl who had only seen the unfamiliar and interesting when visiting a new place, would begin seeing past the hollow allure of wealth and success, to the downtrodden, the poor; expensive condominiums with perfectly manicured grounds looming over buildings that looked like piles of rubble, leftovers from a long-ago war
Summary
By the time I was a freshman in high school, I had attended seven different schools in two different states. With that growing desire to travel and see new worlds comes a growing discomfort that I could potentially leave as much behind as I bring home with me. 1 Stacy Vars (B.A. 2019, M.A. 2021) is a first-generation nontraditional student with a passion for learning, travel, and experiencing new cultures and peoples.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
