Northwestern enjoys showcasing its proximity to Chicago to prospective students. On paper, this seems like one of NU’s biggest assets. When I was a prospective student, I remember getting excited over the idea of taking a shuttle downtown every week and exploring the city.
Today, I (and most NU undergrads) laugh at this naive enthusiasm. As a sophomore, I’ve gone to Chicago maybe twice. I rarely meet people who visit Chicago on the weekends, despite it being half an hour away. Students are too attached to the campus where they live to venture beyond it. They’re attached to their commitments and their friends and rarely make the time to explore opportunities outside their routine.
However, one place only allows you to experience so much. By staying on campus, some of us end up living in the “NU bubble.” We grow used to our weekly routine and fail to see the bigger picture. Our lives are measured and divided by classes and activities, and we often feel stressed because of it.
How do we take a step back? My advice would be to go to Chicago. Take advantage of that shuttle system, the CTA and the Metra.
This summer I realized the importance of traveling. I didn’t have a job, and the only thing on my schedule was volunteering at a hospital twice a week. The rest of the time I watched TV and saw friends. It was fun at first, but after a while it was no longer exciting. I found myself tired and unmotivated most of the time.
Toward the end of the summer, I broke my routine and went to Israel for ten days on a program called Birthright. I was with other NU students, and it was a fantastic experience. Being in a such a different place made me want to explore and enjoy myself. I got to meet Israeli soldiers and see how they lived. When I was talking to the soldiers, I gained perspective on life that I never would have found at home.
Upon returning home, I held on to this new perspective for about a week before I noticed it deteriorating as I got back into the old routine of things. I became lazy again and got into my bad habits of being unmotivated.
In that moment, I promised myself I would travel more. It’s too easy to fall into a routine and grow complacent with it. Traveling gives people an opportunity to remove themselves, have fun and think and act differently in a new setting, even if it isn’t on the other side of the globe.
So far this fall, I’ve journeyed around the Midwest visiting friends at different schools, and I’ve realized it’s pretty easy and inexpensive to do so. Greyhound and Megabus offer relatively cheap tickets. Although it can be difficult to schedule trips because of my classes and activities, it’s definitely not as hard as I anticipated it would be.
Not only have these trips been really fun, but they also help me burst the NU bubble that I often find myself in. Going out and seeing other schools also helps me appreciate this campus in ways that I otherwise would never understand. I’m excited to continue to expand my worldview throughout the rest of college, and I know traveling to new places will help me achieve that.
Thomas Pollick is a Weinberg sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected]. If you want to respond publicly to this column, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected].
