Mikaela Martinez Dettinger: Homelessness and Studying Abroad

 In Dr. Redick's paper "Homelessness" the stark contrast between a hiker/pilgrim and a tourist in their experience of dwelling and sensuous communication stirred within me the language to express beliefs I have held about travel for a long time. I want to begin by saying that I believe any traveling is good. Whether it be as a tourist, pilgrim, hiker, or even traveling for business, I believe that traveling allows a person to experience new cultures and perspectives which cannot happen in a local location. This further allows one to open themselves to tolerance, humility, and kindness by coming into contact entire societies that may think and function differently than what is taught to be "right" in ones locality. This being said, I am also a firm believer that traveling as a tourist to the tourism hotspots limits, to some extent, the variety and depth of experience one might have. Mostly, this is because globalization has allowed these tourist hotspots to cater to the norms and comforts of the most predominant western cultures, namely American culture. Furthermore, Dr. Redick focuses on the sensuous communication between hikers/pilgrims and the land which they travel. A common fact that is forgotten to many travelers is that the land which they are traveling to is as much a part of the culture they are experiencing as the people are. It is the way that the peoples first established in these far away places learned to dwell and care for the land they inhabited which led to the variety of cultures we have today. Different landscapes and environmental needs form different ways of dwelling and being of the people who inhabit the ecospace, which ultimately leads to differences in societies and cultures. In short, traveling solely as a tourist to other places limits the degree to which one person can fully experience the new environment they are in. 

As a freshman searching for study abroad opportunities the only choices which interested me were Dr. Redick's trips on the Appalachian and the Camino de Santiago. While I was open to other opportunities, it didn't seem worth it to me to pay a pretty penny to travel somewhere new, but have my experience limited by classes and school sanctioned planned excursions. The ability to walk and commune with the environment and people around me on the Appalachian and Camino seemed like an experience that would really help me grow rather than limit what I could do. With COVID and timing issues, I have not been able to study abroad during my time at CNU, so I don't claim to know all about the wonderful experiences others have had. My suitemate, however, was fortunate enough to study abroad on the Semester at Sea program. It is a cruise ship program that sails around the world. On hearing her experiences I was excited that she was able to have such a wonderful trip, but I couldn't help to notice in her stories that the experiences she had were very planned and often did not involve leaving the port city where she recounted there being " a lot of options for tourists". Reading "Homelessness" I understand now that she was describing an economic exchange of required hospitality. I noticed in her descriptions of her experience that her interactions with the local people all involved an exchange of some sort of service which I relate to the idea that tourism, such as she experienced in the Semester at Sea program,  turns the interractions between a person and their place into one of utility. While she had great experiences, all of her stories are mediated by an economic condition that seemed to commodify her interactions. It is as if by paying to be on the ship and to go to these places, the program was entitling their consumers to interactions with local people within the bounds of the marketplace in exchange for payment to be in their program. Through this usurpation of communication by the economic exchange, the essence of the traveller and the local is changed to an exchange of promised experiences for money. In a way, the Semester at Sea program offers the opportunity to inhabit a space of mastery over the local people and cultures because the economic exchange of tourism removes the aspect of cooperation between traveller and locals of a place.