Back to: One Reason
Many college students plan to move quickly into a career after graduating. Others, however, might take a break for a vacation, an adventure, a new discovery, or simply to “find themselves.” In this piece, author Ryan Scammell describes his own such adventure: he decided to explore the Australian outback.
Ryan speaks very quickly in this piece – don’t worry if you don’t understand everything! Review the glossary and listen to the piece several times. His style is very typical of informal storytelling.
- Have you heard the term “to find oneself” relating to yourself or your generation? What do you think it means? What experiences or conclusions do you think might come from trying to “find yourself” through a vacation or travel?
- When you visit a new place, do you try to learn or participate in local cultural traditions?
- Have you seen anyone visit your own cultural home and try to participate in your social traditions? Is this usually a successful, or can it sometimes “backfire” – that is, turn out unsuccessfully, or not as hoped? What might go wrong?