“There is no try, There is only do!”
Memoirs reminding myself to Not be Afraid to live: I was in Lyon last year during the Nice, France incident. I flew into Brussels, just 2 short weeks after the airport incident. I was in Italy and was supposed to go to Turkey when the airport incident happened there, where one of my friends actually left that airport safely just hours before that. I was in Sharm El Sheikh two years in a row after the Russian plane incident. I have been in London every year for the past few years, and I could easily have been on that bridge to parliament during the truck incident. I was not far from the square at the same time and same day someone decided to randomly stab people in London last year and I saw police diverting traffic due to “a live incident occurring.” I was in Europe during the Paris incidents, and was told not to go to crowded places that entire summer. They all told me Brazil was dangerous for a lone traveler and should be avoided.. But I went and it has changed my life immensely! Even back to my first Europe trip in 2007, I was warned to be careful because there were metro incidents. Also went to Napoli during a huge trash incident and it was dangerous… I can tell you in all of these incidents, I felt another unifying force,nations coming together as one, saying “WE WILL NOT BE AFRAID!”
My parents kept urging me to come home, and I remember saying, “I am not afraid to live my life. What ever happens is going to happen, I will be as safe as possible, but I am not going to change all of my plans due to incidents possibly occurring.” I’ve witnessed in my own life, that I will always regret the things I didn’t do, over the things that I did. I am completely the opposite of a reckless person. I am a very smart and travel savvy person, hence why I have started a business to enable and help others gain the secrets of travel and the secret to being able to love another country and culture as it is your own through Travel Immserion.
I have incorporated so many different cultures into my own during the years that when I am in Europe or even in the states, I am honored by the people I know and the people who just get to know me that I just meet. Why? Every foreigner tells me, “You are not the typical American Jess.” Because many foreigners have a pretty accurate yet not entirely accurate perception of Americans being very proud (not necessarily in a bad way, they can actually admire that we are Proud to be American), but can also be very arrogant or uncultured or selfish or think only about ourselves basically because we are unwilling to learn about others and expect everyone else to know about us, know the English language, and cater to our needs. But I ask, should we not show the Same respect to give what we expect of others?
But how do you know how to do that, if you only know what you know, and don’t know what you don’t know? Easy, You LEARN. I spent 10 years in Europe and traveling mostly solo around the globe learning these things along the way. I’m here to help you understand why “human understanding” can make the world a better place and at the least, make you a better person. You elevate your knowledge and understanding of many aspects in life when you learn about others via their cultures, customs, and ways of life. It’s a strange phenomenon that the byproduct of learning about others is actually learning about yourself and your own culture. It’s a beautiful symbiotic relationship that occurs if you open yourself to do so. You learn how to utilize what you learn from the openness of communication that only others can teach you in real life. So I’d like to help make it easier on you to understand others Before you travel, also while you travel, so you can really take away the most important aspects of travelling and all the aspects of human understanding.
We expect foreigners in our country to know about our language, and us, so again why shouldn’t we expect ourselves to reciprocate that same respect to others while visiting their countries? It is not that easy to know everything in one shot, so this is PRECISELY why I am on this mission to bring Travel Immersion to you. It’s almost a crash course in culture so u can be comfortable and know how to get the best, most intimate results when you travel. I’m not just giving you a chance to love and live another culture, but for you to show everyone else we are getting better as a nation and prove that we aren’t such dolts when it comes to knowing about the world. We are TRYING. All you need to do is try, and you will be astonished at the results: You will have a better time, more respect from other cultures, better service, better luck finding the local nuances, all because you are trying to respect them in a way that makes sense.
Even Yoda says, “There is no try, there is only do!” So you in fact are no longer trying, because you are Doing! And that my friends, is the point. We need to Do! Do what it takes to not only be well rounded in our country, but in other countries, which in turn will make you a smarter, more respected traveler. You will find things a whole lot easier in life of traveling if you simply immerse yourself. I get that it can be scary but that’s why I have devised ways to help ease the tension or worry, and help you become more open and receptive with myself, our hosts, and our expert advice.
My program is perfect for everyone, especially if you are traveling alone or don’t know what to do or where to go. I will be there for you, and my insider secrets are there for you to be able to tap into the local best kept secrets, even if I’m not physically there with you should you not have a host I have an easy consultants report for you for many countries! It’s incredibly important as a traveler to respect others and you may not know how to do that, so I tell you exactly how to do that on their ground, and how do it well. You will surely learn about yourself through others on this journey, and even learn about your own culture. You learn so much that in turn it can and will change things around for the best.
Let’s help put an end to seeing diversity as a bad thing. It truly pains my heart to feel America has gone backward in time in this aspect. I never thought I would see the day that tiki torches are literally being brought like “Let’s storm the castle and kill the beast!” It’s just ridiculous, absurd, and uncalled for. This is also why I am opening a non-profit to help educate the new, younger generation about the importance of integrating cultures and languages into their lives and how it could change their future for the better.
This has been a mission of mine for at least a decade, and now it’s finally coming to fruition after more than a decade of research of languages and cultures, how languages are best learned, kept, and maintained, which countries do it the best and how, etc. It was through this journey that I encountered unknowingly, the things about my country that I would like to help change, such as our lack of language and cultural learning, the fact that we think medical care premiums are normal when in fact it’s a right in other countries to have affordable care and insurance, the fact that it’s normal to us that student loans cost hundreds of thousands and we are in debt for ages… this is NOT Normal.
People in Europe don’t believe me when I say most people leave college with at least $60,000 of debt. It’s Not normal in other countries. They say how can you afford a car, a house, afford to have a family, to live? I say, “Exactly why you can now understand that we don’t like to have debt but we are forced to have it in exceedingly high proportions.” People think we like our debt, because we always have it. But it’s definitely not the case. Maybe that’s just one downfall of a largely capitalist society. It was through my journey that I learned that my $300-$500 prescription eye drops here ($12 with insurance) are available in every single country of the world at a local pharmacy for about $6 without a prescription.. Is this right? No, it is absolutely LUDICROUS!
I never knew how healthcare was different in other countries, but it turns out that it’s completely an arbitrary number people put to paper and it goes up with fear/volatility. These things you learn from seeing other countries, which in turn helps you learn about your own country, and makes you realize that you love and hate certain aspects. People always ask me, “Where is better, America or Europe?” My answer is always the same. We have things here that I love that you don’t have, and you have things there that I absolutely love that we don’t have. There is no better, there is seeing the beauty in both places and being able to come back to it. I always love going home after my trips, but I can’t wait to go back to Europe after coming home.”
Through my terrific and ongoing journey, I have learned along the way to give back to others via sharing information: Such as the things I love about my country and my love of their country, and receiving the same information back is always very interesting to hear and you learn a lot just by a conversation. It really is nice that others see I’m so in-tune with learning about them because it gives them hope that Americans aren’t always the imbeciles that they think we all are. Be the well rounded American that they bred us to be! You can do it! Just add more subjects other than classroom knowledge and get to the world knowledge.
So this is me giving back beauty to the world, in my way, through a beautiful mission to help better the people in this world he only way I know how, but showing my heart and passion and changing others how Others have changed me. I know my passion and that fact I have never given up thus far, is already changing the world and how people think of Americans, I am just needing to get it done on a larger scale hence my mission is just starting in the business and non-profit factor, but I’ve already changed lives along the way so I know I can put my impact on our nation, but first that requires helping the people in side of it who make the nation, one person at a time and one school at a time.
This is me: Jessica, your host, your “Goderecia,” your friend, your travel immersion specialist, your lover of life and all things beautiful within it, and your “Boccucia” – the lover of fine tastes [not meaning monetarily but of fine quality], the one who wants to help save a troubled nation through service and good works, much like my philanthropic mother and father. I have a mission I am seeing through. To integrate more culture and language into society so we can become more knowledgeable, accepting and in-tune with our diversity that makes us unique yet similar in different ways. Let me help, by helping you. It will change the course of everything if we can change the course within ourselves.
Thank you, Grazie Mille, Merci Beaucoup, Tak sua mycket, Fahleminderit, Muchissimas Gracias, Muito Obrigada, Salamat Po, Mersi mult, Multumesc, Te ringrazio, Dziekuje, Spaciba… I didn’t look any of these words up to say thank you, I have learned these from my travels because I’ve asked, “How do you say ‘Thank You’ in your language?” I happen to believe if you know One word/phrase in another language it should be thank you, not some useless curse word that you won’t use when you meet someone, but one phrase that shows gratitude, appreciation, knowledge, openness, and being respectful/receptive/reciprocal all in one. I always ask that question, what’s one word or phrase if you could only learn one, in any language what would it be?It’s important to show respect or you won’t get respect in return, simple concept. Thank you for reading, and I hope your thoughts have been enlightened if they aren’t already were. Thank you for taking the next step to being more culturally rounded people!
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