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That's, no doubt, an amazing experience. And there's likely countless wonderful experiences you have had / could have right in your home city. The suggestion o

That's, no doubt, an amazing experience. And there's likely countless wonderful experiences you have had / could have right in your home city. The suggestion of the comment I responded to was about learning. Traveling, on its own, doesn't do anything to help people learn anything substantial. It's still ultimately a consumerism-centric activity. The travel industry has done an amazing job of convincing people otherwise.

romwell 7y ago
> And there's likely countless wonderful experiences you have had / could have right in your home city. Nothing of this sort. Most of the US shuts down at 2AM, people don't walk the streets in most cities which makes bumping into people impossible, and so on. The life and the environment is totally different here. (I say this as someone who drove through all states West of Iowa, with the exception of North Dakota, lived in NYC, TX, CA each for years, and moved to the US from another country). Most importantly, interacting with people from another country in their environment gives you a unique perspective both on their culture and your own. It's not about "having and experience", it's that your understanding of the world around you changes substantially. >doesn't do anything to help people learn anything substantial You learn how another country works. You learn what a day in life of another person is like in that country. It's the countless little things that are different that you see. It's the everyday lives that shape everyday thinking, and that's what matters the most. In short, you learn to be in a different way, by observing people who are in a different way. Textbooks simply won't answer the question "What is it like to be a Parisian, in 2019?". I mean, you are making a very strong statement, with not much to back it up with. I provided a single counter-example, but I really don't know where to even start. The logic of your argument applies verbatim to pretty much anything: "There's no point in venturing outdoors. If you really want to learn about nature, hit the library. You're just enjoying yourselves out there." Well, no. Maybe that's what you do, but perhaps you aren't getting as much out of it. I'll also make a strong statement: you have no idea what another country is like until you travel there. You won't have a single shared experience that will make it possible for you to relate to someone living there. Until you go there, all your knowledge is just an abstraction that you built up in your head. To make an analogy again: you can read up on Beethoven all your life, but from hearing his music once you learn more than from reading about it.
- the_gastropod 7y ago
  Beethoven? You mean the deaf man who couldn’t hear many of his own greatest hits? The man who died in the early 1800’s, before audio recording, and whose music we can listen to because it was written down? Good analogy ;-)

romwell 7y ago

> And there's likely countless wonderful experiences you have had / could have right in your home city. Nothing of this sort. Most of the US shuts down at 2AM, people don't walk the streets in most cities which makes bumping into people impossible, and so on. The life and the environment is totally different here. (I say this as someone who drove through all states West of Iowa, with the exception of North Dakota, lived in NYC, TX, CA each for years, and moved to the US from another country). Most importantly, interacting with people from another country in their environment gives you a unique perspective both on their culture and your own. It's not about "having and experience", it's that your understanding of the world around you changes substantially. >doesn't do anything to help people learn anything substantial You learn how another country works. You learn what a day in life of another person is like in that country. It's the countless little things that are different that you see. It's the everyday lives that shape everyday thinking, and that's what matters the most. In short, you learn to be in a different way, by observing people who are in a different way. Textbooks simply won't answer the question "What is it like to be a Parisian, in 2019?". I mean, you are making a very strong statement, with not much to back it up with. I provided a single counter-example, but I really don't know where to even start. The logic of your argument applies verbatim to pretty much anything: "There's no point in venturing outdoors. If you really want to learn about nature, hit the library. You're just enjoying yourselves out there." Well, no. Maybe that's what you do, but perhaps you aren't getting as much out of it. I'll also make a strong statement: you have no idea what another country is like until you travel there. You won't have a single shared experience that will make it possible for you to relate to someone living there. Until you go there, all your knowledge is just an abstraction that you built up in your head. To make an analogy again: you can read up on Beethoven all your life, but from hearing his music once you learn more than from reading about it.

the_gastropod 7y ago
Beethoven? You mean the deaf man who couldn’t hear many of his own greatest hits? The man who died in the early 1800’s, before audio recording, and whose music we can listen to because it was written down? Good analogy ;-)