“I love this country; it’s just fabulous,” crooned Josh,* a 22-year-old traveler who shared my hostel in Cartagena, Colombia. “I’ve never had such success with women. They all look like they’re hungry for me.”

Josh was a bit strung out on 72 hours of cocaine, sex with bar girls eager for cash with which to support their ailing mothers, and the life of a traveler who only associates with English speakers while abroad. He was a regular guy, neither charming nor malicious, who had come to Colombia for a two-week adventure before returning to college on the East Coast. Listening to him, the distance between our perspectives grew palpable. What he saw as a dream vacation I viewed as inadvertently opportunistic and deeply ignorant behavior by a guest in a foreign country. Even as he joined the masses of men from the northwestern semi-hemisphere purposefully engaging in exploitative behavior, he did not appear anxious or even aware that his actions might be problematic. I pitied Josh’s ignorance and its compounding effect, but a part of me envied his obliviousness. Like most students of international studies, education as well as broader travels had widened my horizons too much to retain the bliss of total unawareness. Curious about the effect hours of seminars on refugees, political economy and current affairs has had on graduate students, I headed to the Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) graduate student lounge to discuss this very topic.

“I did human rights observation training in the Middle East before beginning my graduate program,” explained Heather Guyton, a second-year JSIS Middle Eastern studies student.  “Watching the difference between the observers behavior upon arrival in country and the increased awareness and understanding of a locality a few weeks in was exciting and strange.  I wondered when and how I had developed my own awareness and if I had gone through a similar evolution... in a away it reminded me a bit of seeing the freshman in the first weeks of school and then again as they finish classes in June.”

Her observation brings up an excellent point which most graduate students are painfully aware of.  However far we have come towards understanding the issues or regions we study we continue to recognize that to others, be it our faculty or perhaps a guide, friend or advisor with more experience, that we remain far from that distant shore of total understanding of the issues and circumstances at play in the world.

To the students in the lounge, travel and learning formed a cyclical relationship. The more they studied, the more responsibly and fruitfully they traveled, and their observations on the road seemed to inspire their educational pursuits both before and after beginning their degree programs.

“Reading theory and discussing themes in a classroom is very valuable,” explained Randy Thompson, a second-year graduate student in the JSIS Comparative Religion program. “But only when I was in Marrakesh visiting the city’s largest mosque  and witnessing thousands of people pray together that I understood the vastness and power of religion.  No classroom can replicate the experience of traveling through a Muslim country during Ramadan and comparing it to life in the U.S. or elsewhere.”

Nearly all of the people in the lounge agreed upon the awe-inspiring effect of travel upon their ability to comprehend the issues and arguments in their readings and seminars. While everyone agreed on the importance of decreasing ignorance knowing claimed this as a perfect remedy for the world’s problems.  The fact is that being more keenly aware of global issues does not define student behavior: It simply informs it.

“Sometimes, I just feel guilty but unmotivated,” said Brittain Barber, a second-year in Japanese studies. “Too often, my wife and I go to the farmers' market, discuss globalization and the value of shopping local only to devolve into whining that the apples from some other continent are far cheaper and more attractive to us.”

Like my peers, I hate seeing the misery present in the United States and abroad in so many aspects of society—from poverty to gender inequality. I would not trade what little I do know for ignorance, however, despite the attractiveness of traveling intellectually light and just enjoying myself blindly. What my peers and I have come to understand and are in graduate school to learn has helped us truly engage and make connections with those living abroad. It's allowed me to be a better guest and a better host to those visiting or arriving in the United States for the first time. As we grow up, our tastes mature, the bitter, the acidic, the malty becomes more attractive. So, too, it is with travel. As we learn more about the big picture, including the problems that continue plaguing society the world over, the better we are able to enjoy humanity’s countless complex flavors.

Reach columnist Elizabeth Brady at lifestyles@dailyuw.com.

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.