I found my nose strolling through the souqs of Marrakech, finding it’s cousins on the faces of strangers. I watched while my hips performed in the flamenco tablaos of Barcelona and encountered my smile selling knick-knacks in the barrios of San Juan. My hair flaunted its distinct pattern of waves on the beaches of Tobago, where the curls atop every woman’s head challenged its novelty. No matter where I have traveled, I have found the features I believed to be distinctive to myself, within the native population.
Blending into the crowds of locals, I am content knowing that in all factions of the world, I can fit in and immerse myself in an endless amount of surroundings. Abroad, my features are met with endearment; at home, it is met with ambivalence. I could easily walk the streets of a divided Israel and hear greetings from all congregations believing I am one of them, but in Naples, my “home,” I am out casted for the same characteristics outlanders embrace. I feel like I am a part of this world as well as this world is a part of me, but to call a place “home” would mean for it to feel like a home. My motivation to travel is fueled by the sense of “home” I feel everywhere else. The ambiguity of my appearance mirrors the uncertainty of where I belong in this world. My heart and soul belong to all cultures and that is the best part of me, something that I never want to lose.
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Often I consider whether “home” is a reality in a physical sense or if it is a novel concept expanded only in the very pursuit of itself. I am most at home when the physical constraints of a geographical home are in the distance and I am free to explore what it is that I am composed of through the similarities I find in others. I rationalize that these similarities are physical and, to a large extent, this is true. However, it is also in the comfort of like-mindedness and comparable interests. It is in the awareness that others also feel estranged in their “home” and seek a commonality among strangers. These comforts are found among those who seek knowledge beyond their own cultural awareness and values. These are found alongside other travelers and those who travel through history and literature as if their very home can be found in these studies. Home, in this sense, is in those who also overcome the physical restrictions of a geographical location and seek culture and knowledge that will allow them to embrace a world much larger than their own.
I am not from one home with an assigned culture that will serve to define who I am and where I will go. I am a traveling soul in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding that one place could not have provided to me. I long to feel at home in a global world that does not depict boundaries based on physical similarities and differences. This pursuit defines who I am and what I hope to continue throughout my journey. It is my hope, that I will find “home” not only in the faces of those that I mirror but also in those that I cannot find the similarities through a physical comparison. It is my desire to be amongst those who hope for the same. It is within my awareness that this sense of “home” may not be found in all geographical locations or in the mindsets of all those that I will encounter, but I will continue to pursue this “home” and encourage others to do the same.
