Studying abroad is not seeing the world

o ne week ago, I was walking through the Grand b azaar in Istanbul when several shop owners approached me at once to lure me into their store to haggle for some overpriced knick-knacks. There were maybe seven or eight shops in this particular hall and at least five shop owners approached me. I must have looked like a prime target. I was an ignorantlooking American study abroad student walking through one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world carrying a bag full of Turkish delight and wearing a fake rolex I haggled for the day before. not only did I look like a prime target, I was, in fact, one.

I brushed off the shop owners but one kept walking with me. he asked — twice — if I was Greek, then if I was German and finally if I was british. I stopped the guessing game and revealed that I was American before telling the guy I would not buy anything from him. If there’s one thing study abroad has taught me, it’s that I am not “seeing the world.”

“s eeing the world” would take a lot of time and a lot of money. sure, I’m experiencing new cultures and trying new things on a daily basis, but I’m not exactly interacting with locals in small villages in Africa or scaling mountains in Asia. heck, I haven’t even been to London. s o, what are we doing while abroad? At least from my perspective, we’re realizing just how much is out there that we haven’t seen. I’m used to locals asking if I’m b ritish or American. b ut going to a place where American was the fourth guess for some stupid white college kid’s nationality was a wake-up call.

America is the greatest country on the planet. study abroad has only confirmed this. If you need any evidence, I heard “In da c lub” by 50 c ent played on two different continents in two weeks. And north America was not one of them. I’ve always known that America is awesome — and yes, flawed. b ut traveling to other places has allowed me to actually appreciate what we have and understand our faults, too. For reference, a majority of the vacations in my life have been in the great states of m ichigan and Wisconsin.

I’ve seen Israeli police stationed around the o ld c ity in Jerusalem with large rifles as the nation undergoes some of the biggest civil unrest in its history and traveled to Turkey as it experiences devastating inflation and recovers from an earthquake that claimed over 45,000 lives. s o, in my short time abroad I’ve at least been exposed to a couple of dramatically different geopolitical situations. And this is not to say these places aren’t amazing. v isiting Istanbul and Jerusalem made for two of the greatest weekends of my life. b ut, they’re not America.

I’ve traveled around e urope quite a bit to the usual spots — venice, Prague, b erlin, b arcelona, etc. All of these are amazing places. b ut, I’ve found you learn the most about yourself in the places where you look the most out of place. This is no groundbreaking discovery, but it’s something that doesn’t click until you actually experience it.

Whether it was getting stuck in the d amascus Gate for an hour as muslims left the o ld c ity after prayer during a Friday in r amadan or locals gifting us traditional Iftar foods outside the h agia s ophia following the sunset call to prayer even though we had been eating food all day, we’ve certainly experienced new things this semester. And while these are cool experiences that I will take with me forever, the real value is that it forces you to reflect, at least, in ways I probably wouldn’t at a Thirsty Thursday at Four Winds Field. Who do these people across the world think I am?

They probably think I’m a moron tourist, and they wouldn’t be wrong. b ut sometimes it takes haggling for a crappy, fake watch to start to think about who you actually are and where you’re from.

You can contact Ryan at rpeters5@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

I dream of a better notre d ame society!

I dream of a society that mandates each of its students to wear identification badges on their right breast. The I d s ought not to state one’s medical history, religion or race — those characteristics are irrelevant to the visionary purpose I have in mind. The mandate will be enforced by a reimagined notre d ame Police d epartment, in which every officer will carry a pocketsized copy of du Lac with a bookmark on the page containing this amendment. Instead, the I d s will label everyone by a simple binary: a waste of time (Wo T) and not a waste of time ( n Wo T).

The culture of my utopian notre d ame is divided into Wo Ts and n Wo Ts, the people of which come in many different forms.

With respect to Wo Ts, some are wannabe Instagram influencers, whose primary mission is to manufacture proclamations of feigned fondness toward a place or person. It is reported that the line “much love for x” is likely a sign of this group. o thers are the super students who “beat the system” of college admissions by excellent test scores but lack any practical, real-life knowledge or skills. The largest defining factor of the Wo Ts, however, can be described by the saying, “feathers in the wind.” The feathers are people true to their name and only that. They have a characteristic unwillingness to endure any responsibility or burden, mental or physical. Feathers have cut loose their gravitas, any legitimizing moral constitution or professional aspirations so that they might be weightless and readily available for the alluring gales of comfort to cradle them away. In my experience, Wo Ts — people who are utter wastes of time — have been consistent causes for my annoyance.

The Wo T’s counterpart, the n Wo T, is rumored to have a radical culture, barbaric, even. It is said that n Wo Ts engage in ridiculous practices like desiring a relationship based on genuine affection, not utility, prestige or pleasure. n Wo Ts are embarrassingly not perfect and eager to admit their shortcomings and weaknesses. n Wo Ts desire to get the most out of their time at notre d ame by pursuing holistic development. how pitiful!

Personally, I have encountered an uncharacteristically high number of Wo Ts, which is why I can illustrate their character so vividly. Their negative effect on my life can be as brief as an unsavory conversation (approximately 20 minutes) or as long as a failed friendship (approximately 211,680 minutes). Wo Ts come in all shapes, sizes, dorms, states, countries and genders. They are everywhere! It seems as if one who values time effortlessly attracts those who do not. And once a Wo T has successfully deceived you into thinking that there could be a genuine mutual exchange, you and your time are doomed. Prepare yourself to sacrifice time and mental capacity in an effort to cultivate that which will never grow.

Unfortunately, I lack the foresight and courage to say the definitive solution: “I don’t care about you anymore.”

This phrase may appear harsh, but that is the point. As humans, we find ourselves bending over backward to accommodate everything and everyone. It is unnecessarily stressful. s ometimes, there are just some people who are not worth a second of your time. They lack so many, if not all, qualities that are necessary for a healthy relationship, romantic or not. Their decision to waste your time may be due to a lack of maturity or ignorance or outright decision, but the cause is irrelevant.

What matters is you.

I am not calling for widespread selfishness but rather more educated time allocation. d o not hoard all your time for yourself in fear that everybody you encounter will waste it. It is necessary, however, to become more attentive to the specific ways you and another are benefiting each other. Above all, be unwilling to give time to those who will not value it, and be generous in giving time to those who will value it and return it doubly. This may not seem like a groundbreaking realization, but you would be surprised at how inept people are at attending to relationships. c hances are you have been in a toxic relationship, and you certainly have seen toxic people.

Think about it this way: renouncing care for someone is merely stating the very thing that someone already prescribed for you.

“I don’t care about you anymore” is a phrase that we all should incorporate more often into our vocabulary. When used in the correct context, it is empowering and final. It is the bane of a supreme disrespect one could commit, namely wasting another’s time. It is a lasting principle that will govern my utopian notre d ame since it will create an unbreakable barrier between the Wo Ts and the n Wo Ts.

Although my vision will not come to fruition because of historical resistance against anything with the word “mandate” in it, I will have to settle for less. For the time being, let us examine our current actions and inhibitions to act. Are we wasting our time on low-quality people? Are we ourselves the low-quality time-waster in question? d o we find ourselves shirking responsibility in exchange for short-term comfort? Who are the people in our lives that value our time and generously give their own?

Life is short. Use your time wisely.

Jonah Tran is a first-year at Notre Dame double majoring in Finance and Classics and minoring in Constitutional Studies. He prides himself on sarcasm and being from the free state of Florida. You can contact Jonah by email at jtran5@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.