working keystone

DEFINING A VISIT
I say I’ve been to nine countries outside of the United States. It is true. Yet, it also feels misleading. For
most of the countries, I only stayed one or two nights. That is clearly not long enough to really say that
I experienced the culture, especially as we usually only stayed in the capital city. The one real
exception to that is Argentina where we spent almost two weeks there and saw several parts of the
country. I know that you would have to stay in a country for months or years before really knowing the
details of the culture in full, but I do at least feel comfortable in saying I have experienced small parts
of Argentinian culture. Although I know there’s still a lot more to see and learn about in Argentina, I
feel satisfied with the amount of time I spent there and don’t feel the need to go back soon. That
being said, if someone were to offer me an inexpensive trip, I probably wouldn’t decline. I would just
rather spend my money traveling to a country I haven’t seen before. I don’t feel the same for the other
places I’ve been, especially Brazil.
My feet have technically touched Brazilian soil. I have a Brazil stamp in my passport. But, I really
haven’t seen or experienced Brazil. Our day trip to admire the Iguazu falls doesn’t seem to count as
seeing Brazil, especially when we then saw the same waterfalls from the Argentina side. It is humorous
to look at a map with Brazil on it, be reminded just how large it is, and still say I’ve been to the country
when it was just barely on the other side of their border. So, yes, I include it in my country count, but I
do feel like I also have to qualify what I mean. I would still love to go again and actually experience
their culture.
Brazil, however, is also an extreme example from my list. Everywhere else I’ve been to, I’ve stayed at
least one night, usually two or more. France and Hungary, for example, I stayed in for a week, so I
could probably make do without visiting again, at least for a long while. France, though, was a little
different still because we experienced what a monastery was like, not the general culture. At least in
Hungary, we got to see a smaller city in the North-East part of the country and Budapest so there was
more variety. But everywhere else on my list, where we just spent a handful of days in the capital, it’s
harder to say I’ve experienced the country at all. I think I’ve done a satisfactory job of seeing the cities.
I was usually able to hit most of the main tourist attractions, but we didn’t spend any time in the
culture. In terms of if I would go back soon, I don’t know. There’s a part of me that just really likes
increasing the number of countries I’ve been to and would, therefore, say I’d rather go somewhere
else. The other part of me wants to go back and have a deeper cultural experience. I think, for some
countries, I would visit again soon, but just go to different regions and not focus on the capital again.
Although the same principle from Argentina applies where if someone offers me an inexpensive trip,
I’ll take it. Just in the ideal world, I won’t be spending my time and lots of money to plan a trip to a
country I’ve already been to, even if I didn’t get the fullest cultural experience. I’ll just make sure to
plan future trips according to what I really want to get out of them.
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