Misconceptions

I’ve always considered myself a conservative adventurist; meaning that I may not jump out of a perfectly good airplane, but I would like to ride in the airplane that people are jumping out of. This is the same mentality I have used for many aspects of my life, but specifically for traveling. I had no problem traveling to a place for the first time (whether it was in the US or Europe), as long as I knew I had a stable base to start from like a hotel or a friend’s house. This way, anything new I encountered could just add to my experience and every little thing became an adventure. I was willing to go anywhere.

In Europe, I went to Italy and worked 3 seasons on an archaeological dig in Tuscany with Florida State University, and traveled on my own before and after each dig season. I went to Greece and traveled with friends. I went to Scotland on my honeymoon. One adventure after another presented itself and I admit I am getting nostalgic writing this post with memories of the slowest local train between Florence and Pisa; or eating the most wonderful lunch in Rome by just following an old local woman into a restaurant (great advice from my godfather); or riding on a ferry into the port of Rhodes feeling like my own ancestors, or sitting in a chair next to my wife on the side of a castle in Scotland feeling like we owned the place. There are just too many memories to name, and the same can be said for all the places I’ve been in the US and Canada.

So, with all of this positive attitude and adventurist spirit, when my fiancée (now wife) suggested we meet up in Paris, I actually cringed. I don’t know why. I really only had one desire to go to Paris, and that was to see the Louvre museum. The thought of the rest of Paris made me not want to go. I even tried to suggest somewhere else to go. You see I had built up several misconceptions in my mind about Paris from any number of things, and none of them were really valid. I mean I actually thought I would not like French food and thought I would be eating “Le Big Mac’s” at every meal just to have something to eat. As I thought about it, the only time I ever ate French food was at Epcot when I was 10 years old and I remember not liking it. I also had heard people complain over the years about their trips to France, or maybe I just heard the negative and never heard what they loved. Also, I did not know the language, but that never stopped me before.

Regardless of all my excuses, my desire to see the Louvre won out , and we went for 12 days. I still find myself surprised at what kinds of misconceptions I had created that were completely untrue of Paris. From the day we got there to the day we left (and it was winter too), it was one magical day after another full of snow covered parks leading to the Eiffel tower, icicles hanging from the mouths of gargoyles on the side of the Notre Dame Cathedral, artwork from all periods in history that I have only ever seen in books, Neoclassical architecture erected under Napoleon, stained glass windows that make you want to weep, old book merchants on the sides of the Seine river literally selling pieces of French history, and restaurants so old-fashion that it felt like I walked into a painting by Edouard Manet to eat dinner. Oh…and the food. I have never experienced dining like this. Take a small component of each item on a plate given to you and build a bite of all those components. That combination is exponentially more tantalizing than each component individually, and this leaves the person with a mouth full of the sublime spiritual inspiration that only poets can truly reveal………and that is only the soup course of a 5 course meal. After my first night there, I wanted to build a time machine and go back to my 10 year old self and smack him.

I am writing this entry to tell everyone thinking of going on this Study Abroad program to Paris, or any Study Abroad trip, don’t let any preconceived notions of a place stop you from seeing the beauty that is there. We tend to create expectations, both good and bad, of places we have never been and those expectations can be misleading. I have even seen the opposite effect happen where someone is so excited to go to a place and their expectations are more grandiose than the actual place. The best advice I can give anyone in traveling abroad is to be prepared and yet be a clean slate. Let everything you experience be a celebrated first in your life. Cherish any difference you find in your new surroundings and take note of them since you never know when that information will come in handy. And finally, every day eat something that is only from that region because you never know when you will be there again to try it.

In regards to the Study Abroad program to Paris, France May 2014, I will be co-leading this trip with Dr. Nicholas Manias, and I believe we have set up a nice adventure for anyone willing to come with us. To see the details of this trip, or even apply, please visit this link on the SPC Study Abroad website: http://www.spcollege.edu/france/

Thank you and please let us know if you have any questions,

Basil Moutsatsos
Assistant Professor
St. Petersburg College
Clearwater Campus
727-302-6437
moutsatsos.basil@spcollege.edu