Student voices: Traveling to find home

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I have a giant world map marked with places I’d like to visit someday, and an entire wall of my room is covered in postcards friends have gotten me from their visits around the world.

I have a powerful case of wanderlust, and it’s kind of ridiculous because I rarely travel. I’ve never even been out of the country. But maybe that’s what makes traveling seem so appealing to me—I haven’t done enough of it to get sick of it.

I think, though, that traveling is something you don’t necessarily get sick of, because every trip has its own potential to provide unique experiences. Each trip has its own destination. I realized this on a recent trip I took to Florida to visit my family. I’ve been there several times for that reason, yet every time I visit it’s refreshing. The weather, the ocean, the overall relaxed atmosphere — it’s paradise, especially when you arrive in the midst of a Minnesota winter.

The reasons we travel are to expose ourselves to something out of the ordinary, or to get away from the stress of everyday life. I happily accomplished both of these tasks on my trip. So happily, in fact, that I found myself questioning why people even live in a place like Minnesota, when sunny, happy, ocean-surrounded Florida exists. It’s a beautiful place to visit, but there’s something missing from it. There is physical warmth there but figuratively, it felt pretty cold. People only cared about the appearance of the place, but not what it felt like. It felt disconnected.

Don’t get me wrong — I enjoyed my trip, but it surprised me by making me realize why I love living here despite the frigid temperatures and lack of sunlight this time of year. That something missing was a community, and a sense of belonging. A culture exists in the Twin Cities — creativity in the arts, unity through our sports teams, a general camaraderie and understanding. I realized that this does not exist everywhere, and it’s these things that actually make life enjoyable. Pretty views of the ocean can only mean so much.

Although I did enjoy the physical beauty of my vacation, I realized that you can’t live in paradise. It’s simply too good to be true. Sometimes life must have less than ideal conditions in order to fully accept and cherish the ideal moments.

Marnie Sciamanda is a senior at Rosemount High School. Her column appears every other week.

Tags: high school, opinion, rosemount, commentaries