Well, it's over. My Semester at Sea voyage is over. I'm home in my tiny town of Baldwinsville, seeing snow outside my window instead of bright blue waves and sleeping in a bed that doesn't rock. I have no plans to travel outside of the United States anytime soon and strangely enough, I'm OK with that. This past semester was a roller coaster of emotions: the good, the bad, the exciting, the disappointing, the funny, the uncomfortable, and so much more. I thought the highlight of my trip would be the many different countries I traveled to, but in reality, travel is so much more than the places you go or the things you experience. It's about the people. My voyage would never have been the same without the people I met and became friends with along the way. It was my friends who taught me more about myself than sixteen countries ever could. It was the people I met who made my semester amazing. This is why I'm perfectly all right with staying in the United States for a while. While my new friends are scattered all over the world, I still have many friends right here in New York! And, there are still so many people here in Baldwinsville and Rochester who I don't know. By eating at a new table in the dining hall or having coffee with a stranger, not only do I have the opportunity to meet new people, I have the opportunity to gain new perspective. After all, perspective comes from the people, not from the places. I don't have to go to Europe or Africa or South America to gain new perspective. By simply stepping a little out of my comfort zone here in the United States, the potential to travel is endless.
"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than in miles."
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