Ah, the wonders of the world. In relation to my own worldly experience, the world is a vast and unknown world, filled with terrifying weird people and languages that sound like intolerable noises. When traveling to new places I am commonly quoted saying, “Where the hell are we? Why are we here?” The fear that engrosses more than half of the world, mainly anything outside of the United States, has slowly and slowly turned to a curiosity for all things new.
While in Corsica, I tried to have an open, more accepting mind towards what I would experience in this beautiful island city. After finally surviving the wretched bus ride and arriving to the gorgeous Corsica ferries, I knew this trip might just turn out right. I kept telling myself that I was on a five star cruise since I have never stepped foot on a cruise. When dinner came around, I told myself, “This vegetable goo and burnt chicken melds perfectly with this coke zero.” When I jumped into my five foot nine inch bed, I said, “I love sleeping in the fetal position while rocking violently back and forth.” It was easy to say, I did not come equipped with my sea legs for this trip. Its quite easy to see the Cognitive Dissonance theory come into play as I tried to survive on the boat by my failed attempts to make the situation much better than it actually was. When we finally made it back onto land, I was ecstatic to rush to the beach as soon as possible. Escaping the cold air of Switzerland and lying in the beautiful sun by the Mediterranean Sea was a breathtaking experience. After a great day by the beach I went back to change, when I had noticed I had taken the notion of “pack lightly” way to seriously. This mishap in communication lead me to believe that: three pairs of underwear, a pair of jeans, and three t-shirts would be suffice for a weekend in paradise. Not only did I get closer to my “Survivorman” side but also I did learn to sometimes not take everything said to such extremes.
The next morning, after a delicious breakfast of something that looked like ham and cheese that smelled like the socks I was wearing, we headed off to see the famed house Napoleon Bonaparte spent most of his life in. While on our way there we met up with our (cute) travel guide whose name I do not remember. She was a short, knowledgeable woman who could have had any Corsican man kill me at the drop of a hat. While we were inside the Bonaparte house, I learned from the cute tour guide lady that Mr. Bonaparte was actually a huge liar and that he was greatly hated by the French and especially in Corsica. Bonaparte lied about many things, from his birth to his nobility, yet he still was able to have such a huge impact on the events that occurred in history. This showed me another part of the world of communication and how important it is to be able to persuade and use persuasion in order to aid your efforts. I noticed our tour guide had great scorn for the legacy of Bonaparte, which had inadvertently rubbed off on the information I was being provided. All stories about Napoleon were stories of failure, showing him as a cheat and a little man on a high horse. I found that the public sphere I was in was not being ethically portrayed. The tour guide we had showed such a skewed perspective of what was real and what was fake, I did not know whom to believe. Though she was cute, I chose to accept the information with a little bit of caution as to the way she tried to persuade me.
The next trip our group took off on was a nice, somber boat ride over to the town of _________. I had a great time on the top of the boat, shivering while trying to keep the six cups of coffee I had for breakfast inside my stomach. After an excruciating 4 hours on the boat ride from hell, we docked in ________, a quite town that had eighteen inhabitants. I was handed a lunch and I was so grateful to have a nice meal by the water. When I opened my lunch pail, I was ecstatic to find three sandwiches, in my world, three sandwiches in your lunch is a big deal. As I took my first big bite, I noticed something; every baguette only had one article of sandwich-like add-ins. I was outraged to find out the Pepperdine administration thought they could jip me into thinking, I would eat a baguette filled with carrots and cucumbers. Though, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, I tried to make the best of the situation and combine all three sandwiches into one savory mega sandwich. Man, do I love the Cognitive Dissonance theory!
In all, I believe this trip was a major test to keep my cool and find the best in every situation, no matter how much I wanted to cry to my mom and fly home. I think that if all members participating in such an excursion used this same mindset that overall fun that is to be had would be overwhelming. I was able to be around the people I love and relax in a beautiful place some people would die to see. I got to experience the life of a true Corsican down at the prestigious Shamrock Pub. I was even able to eat the local fair of Panini’s and carbonara pizza at three in the morning each and every night as I walked the seven miles from hotel to hotel. Without true, ethically constructed communication there can never exist a true sphere where all humans can speak cohesively and create something more than an argument about how much Napoleon ruined France as a whole. Next time your hitting the road, have an open mind and most of all, be weary of cute little tourists and their evil ways of persuasion.
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