It’s a Monday morning and you get up after a weekend spent in your bed. You reach for your phone and a quick look at your Facebook feed shows your foreign exchange classmates camping on a mountain, tanning on a beach, or eating some obscure Filipino delicacy even you haven’t tried. Your bed suddenly feels just a bit too comfortable.
Perhaps it’s their limited stay or the novelty of a new country, but our friends from overseas seem to experience much more of the country we call home than we do. What’s even more impressive is the fact that they travel over the same weekends we have. The little over 48 hours we get after our last class on Friday and first class on Monday seems more than enough for foreign exchange students to live local lives. Taking Snapchat selfies, catching up on Stranger Things, or sleeping in are all admirable pursuits, but maybe walking down Session Road, spelunking in the caves of Sagada, or munching on suman and sapin-sapin wouldn’t hurt every now and then.
Foreign perspectives
We’ve heard it all before: Pack the essentials, travel with a small group of friends, and take advantage of the different kinds of transportation. We don’t need tips, we need experiences, stories, and perspectives. Luckily, those are what exchange students Matthieu Willemsen, Solene Berry, and Beloslav Sviridov have.
Willemsen speaks of the country with wide eyes, excitement, and an almost tangible awe in his voice. “Know that your country is one of the best I’ve been to in the world,” he says. He fondly recalls his time in Caramoan Island, Bicol, where he climbed coconut trees in the morning and slept on the beach at night. Berry particularly enjoys the country’s landscapes. “I think I’ve never seen something like [them],” she says. The landscapes in Sumilon, Cebu, stand out as some of her favorites. For Sviridov, the beauty of the Philippines is one thing, but the opportunities for adventure is what really gets him going. The more spontaneous, thrilling, and daring the activity, the more he enjoys it. Among the destinations he has gone to, Sviridov especially liked Montalban, Rizal, where he went hiking. He recalls the intrepid affair where he was only given gloves for safety gear. “In other countries, you’re given helmets and stuff. It doesn’t get any more exciting than that!” he explains.
Beyond their favorite local destinations and activities, though, are less tangible yet perhaps even more meaningful opportunities for the country’s beauty to shine. Willemsen appreciates the relationships he forms while traveling around the Philippines. “In other places, I can walk around the entire day and not make any new friends. Here I meet someone once and they’ll add me on Facebook, invite me on other trips, or tell me I’m welcome to stay with them when I visit their cities,” he shares.
Berry also sheds some positive light on little aspects of local travel that we tend to take for granted. She tells us of the time she traveled to Cebu without an itinerary. She was happy to still have been able to see a lot of the city because buses were always present and she didn’t need to purchase tickets in advance to be able to take different trips.
With their appreciation for the Philippines, it wasn’t surprising that when asked about their thoughts on Filipinos and local travel, they were overcome with frustration. “[Filipinos] don’t travel a lot but they love their country,” Willemsen says. Berry observes that when she asks Filipinos for travel tips, Palawan seems to be the only answer. In truth, she says, there are so many other sites to see. Sviridov agrees that Filipinos should explore their own country and seek more exciting ventures than the typical hotspot destinations. He also notes that most Filipinos prefer travelling abroad instead of around the country.
Willemsen encourages us to not wait until we’re somewhere else to begin to appreciate the Philippines. “I have Filipino friends who went to Spain just two weeks ago, and they already miss the Philippines. You understand that this country is amazing when you are not here,” he said. Moreover, Sviridov recognizes the political and social tensions that grasp the nation, but believes that the country and the people are beautiful and still worth getting to know.
Willemsen, Berry, and Sviridov remind us of the beauty of the country we call home. With all there is to love about the Philippines, it’s important to remember that this love should start locally.
Local love
The foreign exchange students speak of the Philippines with nothing but awe, gratitude, and appreciation. All of these things are embedded in our hearts as Filipinos, but many of us have yet to experience this firsthand, to discover the country the way they have.
Living in the Philippines might make it easy for us to take everything it has to offer for granted. Getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of life at large might not leave us much time for island hopping or food tasting. We take comfort in the fact that the country will always be here, and plan trips for the indefinite and eventually non-existent “next time”. Foreign exchange students, by contrast, have an acute awareness of the short time they have in the country and make the most out of that accordingly. As Willemsen says: “Knowing that something is here is different from experiencing it.”
More than top destinations and travel tips, however, are insightful lessons on appreciation of and love for our country. Yes, the country will always be here, but that shouldn’t have us acting like it’s not here now. If students whose homes are far away can make homes out of our country, then we should be able to do the same. This isn’t a call to plan trips for every remaining weekend of the school year. It’s a call to take cue from our foreign exchange students and finally see what’s always been in our reach.