The Relationship Between Living Abroad and Creativity - Essay Example

?Living Abroad The population of each country can not be stable forever, because besides natural increase there is always a place for migration. Everyday people cross boundaries of different states with an aim of business trip, removal, inhabitancy or merely tourist visit. Nowadays traveling plays significant role in day-to-day life. Accepting democratic principles and opening borders for foreigners gave a great opportunity to explore other territories besides native land and choose the most appropriate countries to stay in for normal vital activity. Access to other states provides the freedom of choice to those people who are not content with limits and intend to broaden own mind. Because traveling is not just a matter of good time-spending, it is also a process of studying, which assists to elaborate new kind of perception, comprehension and emotional arousal. When a person visits various places all over the world, he gets acquainted with foreign culture, lifestyle, customs, morals and manners. This in its turn makes him wiser, more mature and intelligent, enabling to come up with totally new ideas, thoughts, attitudes and sometimes absolutely new dreams. The more a man sees, the faster he saturates own mind with knowledge that helps him to develop own personality and grow. Nature gave us unlimited abilities. That is why our task is to improve ourselves no matter what level we have already reached. Regrettably, not everybody has inner intention to get smarter and more educated, but those who really have it try to perceive as much information as possible. And partly we are able to implement the mentioned plan with a help of different people during communicational process and various places that have own history and events. Therefore, traveling contains several functions, one of which is experience along with self-development. Being an everlasting dreamer by nature, I have a list of goals that should be attained on specific stages of my life. The biggest of them is to make a trip all around the world. It is definitely not an easy scheme, which can take a lot of time, but I am absolutely confident that this dream is worthy having a try. In my opinion, there is nothing so amazingly impressing than to admire foreign countries, hearing another language, searching for places of interest, tasting national food, trying to have a chat with local citizens, and just wandering with a map from one street to another in a hope to find the right direction. Traveling is not just another kind of entertainment, for many people it is a real way of life without which they can not imagine own existence. Visiting other countries manages to broaden person’s outlook, making him stronger and capable of great endurance to changing conditions of surrounding atmosphere. It is not random that usually a man who travels a lot turns out to be rather interesting interlocutor, because his way of life allows him to be aware about many things that are hardly known for those people who never go out of native town. A traveler can teach you a lot due to his wide experience and high intelligence. Such person is steadier to foreign environment and there is less possibility that different stressful situations will be able to break him down and push to give up. When you see many things, you become ready for unpredictable issues, which for stay-at-home people can be unsolvable. That is why traveling gives you a considerable advantage, endowing with knowledge that can become essential and rather useful in the future. For example, it is known that each country has its own rules and ethics which need to be followed when you make a visit or deal with people originated there. Hence, in China it is considered to be normal when a person leaves some food on his plate, which means that he is full up and content with master’s hospitality. This is a sign of respect and gratitude. However, in United States of America such gesture can be accepted as offence. People may think that you did not eat up because in your opinion the food was not delicious, even if in a reality you did not mean this at all. Such misunderstanding may lead to unpleasant consequences. That is why sometimes it is very important to be aware about country’s specific rules of behavior, especially when you interact with people from foreign states. With a help of traveling you are able to gain required knowledge that later on can be implemented in various situations. Especially mentioned information is indispensable while running international business. According to Maddux and Galinsky (2009), “Living abroad may allow people to approach problems from different perspectives” (p. 1048). Usually people who have moved to another country show more creative thinking and are able to find abundant solutions to a problem, while stay-at-home people are prone to suggest standard and trivial variants of possible issues due to their limited vision. So if there is a wish to become multi-faceted person with superior intellect, there is nothing can be so much educational than seeing and finding out the world with other cultures, people and life. Traveling helps to gain irreplaceable experience and trains own strengths of will. Current level of tourism development has turned the process of changing place of residence into quite common phenomenon. A lot of people after living in the same country for a specific period of time prefer to move out of native land. This happens because some people by nature are prone to feel boredom and get tired with constant staying on the same place. Knowing each street, house and neighbor, they get desire to find new surrounding atmosphere, which can bring them totally refreshed impressions, various emotions, and different acquaintances. Changing a place of abode manages to renovate already formed lifestyle, creating new situations and putting real challenges. Person learns to cope with unknown environment from the start dealing with adaptation and the process of altering own habits. Moving to another country is not an easy step, which requires you to be strong, patient, and persistent. At first everything will seem to be hostile and strange. New places and faces may significantly influence on human psychological condition, which can become sharper with presence of language barrier and absence of normal and healthy communication. During that period a person has to be ready to feel an extreme nostalgia for native country that can last even several months. But after that adaptation process gets over and a man starts to get used to his new life, feeling satisfaction and being able to define positive aspects of his moving. As for me, I have a genuine passion for traveling, assuming that nothing can be more interesting and exiting than getting to know other cultures, traditions, lifestyle, standards and norms. I am confident that I would like to try myself in a new place and check out how hard the process of adaptation will be for me. Among all possible variants for place of residence I would move to Italy. I have read a lot about this country and every time when I see pictures of its landscapes I never stop to be fascinated with its splendor and beauty. Italy strikes me with its history and current level of economical, social and political development. For me this European state is not only a place of delicious pizza, spectacular football and lovely love songs, it is also a country of big possibilities and substantial comfort. I am quite sure that Italy would be pleasant country for me if I lived there, because exactly in its kind of climate I want to live someday. Italy has a very rich history saturated with significant battles, rebellions, riots, and wars. The arena of the most raging and major events was always considered Rome that managed to obtain a status of “world’s capital”. Today this city owns enormous power of attraction and magnificence. Rome is appealing not only as a center of tourism but also as a place of high living standards. In my opinion, life in Rome can never be boring because there is an everlasting flow of tourists. However, such noisy city is not for everyone to get by. Overcrowded transport, streets and entertainment establishments can bring stress and anxiety. Nevertheless, I still presume that such city is a right place for me. Rome stays one the most visited capital on the planet. Situated on its territory little state Vatican is the worldwide center of Catholic Church. I believe the greatest magic of Rome is ability to combine antiquity and modernism. Entire empires flourished and outlived collapses, old gods were substituted by new ones, dynasties showed up and disappeared, but Rome always stayed itself. It is not in vain that there is a general opinion assuming that all roads lead to Rome. People always came here for inspiration. In the middle of nineteenth century poets and artists of all nationalities, among which was also Goethe and Stendhal, flooded to Rome. Ancient Roman ruins are considered to be the center of Rome’s attraction. Hence, they always were admired by famous English romantic poets, including Gordon Byron and John Keats. Rome has many places of interests. During a lot of centuries the symbol of magnificence and grandeur was the Coliseum that was incomparable spot of raging events. Its arena which performed the gladiator fights not for life but for death kept thousands of spectators in extreme tension. Also today Roman and Imperial forums that have been witnesses of Roman Empire’s raise and fall strike with remains of the past splendor. In addition, in Rome you can find such popular monuments as Circus Maximus, Domus Aurea, Pantheon, Catacombs, Castel Sant’Angelo and others. It seems that for being able to visit all places of interest in Rome you will need several weeks. Reading Rome’s history, I was utterly impressed with the time of Nero’s governing. Especially the fact of the Great Fire which occurred in July of 64 managed to shock me the most. Due to the assumption of many historians the fire was cause because of emperor, who merely was out of inspiration. The thing is that Nero was very artistic and poetic, but that summer day he felt boredom. That is why without much hesitation he ordered to burn the whole city for being able to see this event with own eyes. So numerous of buildings were ablaze, thousands of people screamed, cried and died, but the great emperor was standing on a hill and with a poker face observed the flame. Such historical events arouse unbelievable desire to visit mentioned city and at least slightly to feel the presence of former atmosphere. Currently my plan is to follow a dream and do everything for achieving it. It is obvious that you never know where life may bring you, but I really hope that someday I am going to find myself in Rome with a smile on my face and inexpressible joy in my soul. Reference Maddux, W. W., & Galinsky, A. D. (2009). Cultural borders and mental barriers: The relationship between living abroad and creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 1047–1061. Read More