Spring Break Experience: “Traveling Like an Anthropologist Experience”
Most international students get sufficient time to explore beyond the school vicinity, mostly during educational breaks. In this breaks, a student may decide to explore specific regions or cultures of their interest. When individuals choose to have this kind of travel, they travel “like anthropologists.” Anthropology is the study of other people’s way of life. As such, anthropological trips may involve going to study people’s culture, including their meals, language, and modes of dressing or travel to study their social connectedness, among other perspectives. There are four different categories of anthropology, including linguistic anthropology, biological, archeological, and cultural anthropology. This paper discusses a personal experience during the spring break while “traveling like an anthropologist.” It is important to note that an anthropologist is a person who engages in anthropology. As such, this document focuses on a visit to New Orleans and a closer look at the people and cultures of New Orleans.
Overview of the “Spring break experience.”
This travel to New Orleans was not only exciting but also adventurous and insightful. Notably, this travel was not lonely but involved three other friends, and so each of the four members might have had a different experience during the voyage. Unlike with other friends who had prior experience with New Orleans, Spring break offered a chance for my first travel to the place. Because I had a company with previous experience, I learned a lot during my stay.
New Orleans is perhaps the world’s most vibrant and eccentric city. In light of this, the city offers a wide range of experiences as it is filled with memorable attractions, excellent live music, fantastic cuisine, and friendly people. Besides, visitors come to experience the bewitching culture involving supernatural occurrences that make a ghost tour so fabulous, primarily through the French Quarter. However, it is not easy to experience all these as it requires a lot of time.
However, I had to taste the boiled Crawfish that was in abundance, and nearly everyone has a bite. Besides, it was blissful to experience plenty of live bands across the city, including pop or funk music, rock-n-roll, jazz, and brass bands. Although getting somewhat spooky and scary, I was convinced to have a ghost tour through the French quarter to watch some of the establishments and buildings that are thought of being haunted by souls and spirits of the early days (Park & Stangl, 2020). Finally, I had to crown the travel by visiting the New Orleans Museum of Art to see what the arts communicate about the city and its people.
This travel was indeed anthropological and so insightful. As a lover of music and more so live performances, it was passionate to influence my friends to enjoy the well-organized music that was entirely in plenty. I learned that New Orleans is the “birthplace of jazz.” Although influenced by the friends and the fact that almost everyone had a bite, I ate the boiled Crawfish. Remarkably, the foods were excellent, and it was just fun watching live performances. One of the most critical things that I learned from the choices is that peer influence is real because I only went for the ghost tour after being persuaded by friends and having persuaded some to go for the live music performances.
Although New Orleans has a considerable influence of the Caribbean, Sicilians Africans, German, and the Irish, the city was established by the French but also spent some years under the Spaniards before returning to French just before the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Interestingly, New Orleans was the biggest port city during the 19th century. Notably, the fascinating heritage of French settlers and the African Americans in Louisiana climaxes in the New Orleans city. For instance, I learned that the Creole, Cajun, and African Americans influence the creation of menus that overflows with deep-fried oysters, spicy jambalaya, and the flaky beignet pastries.
The city of New Orleans is often called “the Crescent City” mainly because of its quarter moon shape. During this travel, I learned that the city remained isolated from the mainland for almost 250 years until the construction of a significant bridge in 1958. More canals than Venice dominated the municipality before the development of this bridge and that the locals moved about by boats while hopping on a traditional streetcar traveling over 200 miles. Such cars included the prominent streetcar called the “Desire” that went along the Desire Street. This isolation influenced its extensive cultural innovations and unique developments, including the gospel and jazz music, creole cuisine, and the sassy mix of unique cultures such as the nightlife. All this fun and knowledge made this travel so beautiful and anthropological.
Connecting the experience with coursework
The lessons above clearly connect to different themes learned in class. This section discusses four distinct themes, including critical thinking, mindfulness/mindlessness, cultural shock, and travel-related change.
Critical thinking
The essential theme of thinking emerges from the desire to critically analyze and evaluate a condition before making the judgment (Curtin & Brown, 2019). For instance, it was not easy to have a bite of the boiled Crawfish. Notably, this is one of the unique cuisines that I established during the travel. As such, it would not be easy for someone just to have a bite of meals that they do not know. Similarly, I was hesitant to eat this kind of food. Although different foods react differently to the consumers, I first decided to watch my friends eat and see their reactions. Informed by the superstitious nature in the environs, the analysis was extensive. Thus I could only have a bite on the second day having observed how the others responded to the meal. As such, the decision came after critical thinking based on the possible effects, the reactions, and why the menu can affect me and not the others, including the locals.
As observed, developing one’s critical thinking skills are essential because the skills help an individual to break complex ideas into simple and manageable units. For instance, it was a complex idea to define boiled Crawfish based on the rumors that the spirits often corrupt the preparation of different meals. Although the situation was not easy to tackle, one could analyze and make an informed judgment.
Mindfulness and mindlessness
While mindfulness concerns the state of being able to meditate or reflect towards developing conscious awareness, mindlessness is characterized by making snap judgments, daydreaming, absent-mindedness, and intuition. During the trip, for example, the development of knowledge about security and safety around the French Quarter was optimal. Informed by the scanty information regarding the protection and safety around the French Quarter’s neighborhoods, I managed to convince my friends not to go beyond specific points at a particular time of the evening. However, the decision to engage in the ghost tour was hasty and in a state of mindlessness. While deciding to take a walk, I can attest to the truth that I was absent-minded.
Culture shock
One of the critical times during the travel that developed a culture shock is not even the cuisine but the ghost tour. Culture shock involves stress or confusion emerging when one moves out of the familiar culture. While the decision to engage in a ghost tour was out of mindlessness state, there was some confusion and anxiety amid the excursion. Many questions lingered in mind. For instance, how do the people of New Orleans survive in an environment that is known to have spirits and spells? It was horrifying and trembling to imagine what a ghost could be or how was its appearance. Observing the haunted buildings was adventurous and horrific at the same time, thus creating a state of confusion and anxiety. As such, it was hard to experience the Courtyard rituals and the voodoo potent potions and dolls.
Culture shock involves the feeling of being isolated or cut off from the familiar environment. It is noteworthy that traveling often brings this kind of impression. The excitement comes in different stages including the honeymoon stage, irritability and hostility, adjustment and adaptation as well as the re-entry stage. For the honeymoon stage, for instance, the shock occurred when examining the natural conduct of the people and their extreme live performances. While engaging in a live performance in personal culture is ideal, its occurrence in New Orleans was extraordinary and hence creating a sense of excess excitement. Only the ghost tour caused irritability and hostility culture shock.
Personal growth
This travel created a lot of awareness from different dimensions. Firstly, I learned that traveling is essential for human beings as it brings new knowledge about the world and what exists in it. While different communities exercise witchcraft and superstitions, experiences in New Orleans’ ghost tour enlighten more on cultural beliefs and spirits. Also, travel to New Orleans informs that traveling is the primary cause of acculturation. For instance, although someone might be hesitant to behaving in a certain way or adopting other people’s cultures, associating with foreign cultures permits interaction and acceptance. It is also apparent that learning new cultures involve various stages, including culture shock and irritability (Sevim & Hall, 2018). However, traveling also creates moments of excitement and happiness. For instance, the experience of new cuisine and jazz music as well as live performances and the night tours.
Of importance, the entire travel demonstrates the importance of mindfulness and the effects of mindlessness. For example, although the experience during ghost tour developed a different encounter, it was out of mindlessness and could harm an individual if ended up in troubles. As such, it is essential to enhance one’s mindfulness and critical thinking skills. Both critical thinking and mindfulness allow creativity and innovations (Gallagher, 2018). I learned much of these lessons by interacting with the locals and the business people in the region. One of the locals gave an assurance that although some people fear that the preparation of the boiled Crawfish might be involved spirits, business people do their work professionally and ethically. From this and other inquiries, I understood that New Orleans is an excellent place to be and more exciting than many other cities around the United States.
Business people asserted that they understand the existence of supernatural happenings in the region, but they are not a party to any of such beliefs. Responses from both local and business people resonated and hence the conclusion that the place is ideal for traveling and adventure. While speaking to some tourists in the area, they asserted that they had visited the site several and can attest to the right will and professionalism among the business people. The entire travel reveals that being mindful and critically thinking about a situation can increase my success in life. Also, the experience demonstrates that mingling with other people can significantly enhance my thinking and creativity for growth and development.
Conclusion
This discussion on my experience during travel to New Orleans demonstrates how exposure to new environments and cultures enhances critical thinking and mindfulness. Besides, one should not just travel but should develop a target for the travel. Lack of objectives may easily lead to unprecedented results from anxieties through mindlessness. While friends can influence ones’ opinions or ideas, they are essential in addressing some of the challenges in life. However, people should critically analyze their friends and their suggestions to avoid unwarranted outcomes of integration. Traveling permits acculturation and globalization despite the possibility of developing culture shock.
References
Sevim, N., & Hall, E. E. (2018). Cultural Effects in Tourism: Cultural Shock and Acculturation. Social Sciences Researches in the Globalizing World, 451.
Gallagher, S. (2018). Mindfulness and mindlessness in performance. Reti, saperi, linguaggi, (1), 5-18.
Curtin, S., & Brown, L. (2019). Traveling with a purpose: An ethnographic study of the eudemonic experiences of volunteer expedition participants. Tourist Studies, 19(2), 192-214.
Park, S., & Stangl, B. (2020). Augmented reality experiences and sensation seeking. Tourism Management, 77, 104023.