Life Lessons of Traveling
Written by: Katie LaRue
Major: Global & International Studies & Spanish
Location: Burgos, Spain
Travelling abroad is exciting and sometimes challenging all at the same time. As I’ve been planning weekend trips whilst studying abroad, I couldn’t wait for what I’ll see and do in the new places I’ve chosen. Some places I’ve visited after my solo week long trip included Barcelona and Valencia (Spain), London (UK), Rome (Italy) and Lisbon (Portugal) and day trips to Madrid and Segovia (Spain). Since my solo trip, I’ve built so much confidence in my travelling “skills” such as navigating myself around each city, using public transportation and budgeting my money for food and hostels.
I haven’t really ever felt unsafe in these places so along with this confidence in myself and others came along complacency. I, fortunately, haven’t experienced a real unsafe situation but unfortunately, I was a victim to pickpocketing. While I was in Rome a couple of weeks ago, my phone along with my debit card and driver’s license were stolen right out of my pocket when I was on one of the tram lines alone. I had travelled with another WMU student, Maggie so I wasn’t totally alone, but we did our own thing for that day so I was basically alone for a few hours with just a map and a few euros in my wallet. My heart sunk, my brain went dizzy, and my eyes went wide as I was feeling all over my pockets and looking inside my fanny pack to see if there was any hope of my phone being there. Nothing.
I could never imagine this happening, but I know it could happen in any big city, even in the US. With all of the study abroad orientations about safety that I’ve attended and all of the US Department of State’s travel advisories that I’ve read, it was all just common sense to take precautions. Indeed, I have put them into practice whilst I traveled without thinking about it too much but I thought I knew, per se, the in’s and out’s of travelling and I let my guard down. I made one measly mistake of not keeping my phone clutched in my hand or snuggled safely in my fanny pack. I fell into my own trap of believing nothing could go wrong whilst travelling...
Since I was mostly worried about the robbers using my debit card, I found an internet point to email my mom in the US to call the bank to shut my card down. Before finding the internet point, I did use a nice couple’s phone to try to call the bank but it didn’t work. Nonetheless, I was grateful for the help and support they offered. I learned that there are always more good people than bad and many will help a traveller in distress.
After that “ordeal” was resolved (thank you mom and the others that also helped!), I tried to continue exploring more of Rome as much as I could. While knowing that a lost phone wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened and I’m forever grateful for that, I was frankly upset. I lost all of my photos that were just on my phone. I lost contacts that I might never be able to connect with again. I lost a smidge of confidence in myself and my travelling “abilities”. And I wasn’t able to take any more pictures.
However, this has given me a few life lessons:
1. Always know where your phone is and things in general; firmly grasp it/them in your hand, tuck it/them in your bag and zip it up, and triple-check that you have it/those things
2. Always exercise caution aka don’t let your guard down
3. Don’t panic if this does happen
4. Try to backtrack your steps just in case
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
6. There are ups and downs to travelling but that is all part of the adventure!
7. Try to stay positive (“It is what it is”)
8. There are good people and friends that will help.
9. Surviving the “downs” of life helps make the “ups” that much sweeter
10. Studying abroad and travelling teaches you about life and expands your world way beyond the classroom
Categories: Ups and Downs, Traveling, Spain, Spanish