A recent trip to Paris, France seemed to open my eyes to the beauty of the here and now. I brought my cell phone on the trip and was granted 50 text messages for the entire week, for correspondence with my parents back home. Every day, a new activity was planned in the morning and every day, my phone stayed shut off in the hotel room, only to be used at night. It was one of the most liberating experiences I have ever been through.
While being in a foreign country without parents, in itself, is liberating, the non-existence of my cell phone during that week made it ever more so. Experiencing all that Paris and the world abroad had to offer, without the hindrance of a cell phone, was extremely exciting. I didn't have to worry about texting people back, checking my Facebook, or anything else except for what was happening right then and there. Making plans with our group, we would meet face to face in the morning to discuss the plans for the day. A couple of us decided to meet a group at the Eiffel Tower at 2:00 p.m. one day. We arrived a bit before and met up with the girls, without difficulty, at 2:00 p.m. The leaders of the trip corresponded with us at breakfast each morning and would leave handwritten notes and signs on the bulletin board in the hotel lobby, telling us about some activities they were doing for the day.
The strangest part about this trip was that since I was so focused on the present, I didn't even miss my cell phone, a device which oftentimes made me concerned about the past or the future. I think of the amount of times a day I text since being back in the states. It is probably some absurd amount that I am too embarrassed to share. While abroad, I did not have that. I had the people and sights in front of me to spend my time with. So, put down the cell phone, and look up at the sights (I'm speaking to myself as much as I am to you). See who is around you, talk to them. Look at the buildings. Recognize where you are now. It's worth it.
I also recently went on a trip. It lasted three weeks and I was on the complete other side of the world. Before my mother left the airport, I made the bold decision to leave my phone behind all together. I made no more than ten phone calls over the entirety of the three weeks, and of those ten calls I actually got into contact with my mother only about four times. It amazed me the amount of fellow students that were so eager to reach WiFi, or just to be able to call or text. I, on the other hand, must agree that it was quite liberating. I mean, when we are in a place so different why should we keep our cell phones? When I am here I catch myself glued to some sort of technology, so when I went across the world I was happy to detach technology from my grasp and explore the new culture I was lucky enough to immerse myself into.
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