Why We Travel Response

As someone who has traveled from Texas to the University of Iowa, Iyer's observations regarding how one's experience is a synthesis of both their own dispositions, intricacies and histories and that of the place they visit is cathartic because it reminds me that whatever I take from my experience here is at least partly dependent on who I am and who I want to be. Since everything that I will perceive in college is subjective, the memories and knowledge that will be induced as a result is "an effable compound of [myself] and [this] place, what's really [here] and what's only in [me]." It's reassuring to know that what is gained from my life is a product of myself, and that having faith in what I cannot control doesn't mean I'm not a determinant of what my life will ultimately amount to. If anything, distinguishing that which is outside of my authority helps immerse myself in what can be done. In the end, Iyer's "Why We Travel" reminded me to command what can be controlled and hope for the rest in order to love my life to its fullest extent.