Traveling

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page." -Saint Augustine

All incoming freshmen at Endicott college are required to read this book called "This I Believe" over the course of the summer. I picked up the book last weekend and started reading it this past week. It's filled with stories and experiences from people willing to teach life lessons. It's a fascinating read that I strongly suggest checking out. One of the stories featured the above quote and I immediately fell in love with it. I love both reading and traveling, so the fact that the quote almost immediately became a favorite of mine was a no-brainer.

For three straight years from 2006 to 2008, I traveled across the world a part of the People to People organization. I had the opportunity to travel to Europe at the age of 10! Two years later, I traveled to Australia and had an equally awesome time. Not is the above quote well worded, but it's also 100 perfect true. What are you going to learn from staying in your house and sitting on the couch? Sure, there's the Internet, where you can almost anything within seconds, but it's nowhere near as fun as actually leaving your household and traveling to exotic places across the globe.

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You can travel at any point in the year, but the best time to do so is during the summer. As I stated in a previous blog post, many people take the time to go on vacation during the summer, so there's no better time to explore the world than right now. I'm sure there's at least one place you've always wanted to travel to. Whether it be Rome, China or even across the United States, there's always somewhere new that you have yet to explore. Not only are you learning new things and meeting new people when traveling, but it also gives you a break from your everyday life.

Ever get tired of doing the same thing over and over everyday? Traveling is the solution. You're limiting yourself by staying within your comfort zone. How will you ever be able to learn new things if you're stuck within the confines of your house all the time? There's something exciting around every corner, it's just up to you to take the time to find out what you're missing by doing some simple exploring.