We have just finished the summer season, so it’s back to the books. But summer will have an impact on us in the coming semester for more than one reason.

Summer is the time when we work jobs to save for tuition, take on internships that will lead to a good job, take classes to get ahead or catch up in the program of study and travel.

Traveling can be more interesting and even a bit too exciting, especially in the current political situation where every government is either afraid of violence or afraid of being perceived as not doing enough to combat terrorism.

My travels this summer took me far away from Ames to visit and study in an interesting place: Birzeit, Occupied Palestine.

One of the thoughts I returned with is that I am proud to be from Slater. Everyone would ask where I was from, and I would simply respond that I lived “near Chicago.” Usually the questioning wouldn’t go beyond that, but some, who knew where Chicago was, would ask exactly where I am from.

I would then spend the next five minutes of my life explaining that I live in Iowa and go to Iowa State University. Having to explain where Iowa is and what we have that the outside world would perceive as attractive, I reflected on the attractiveness of Iowa.

Besides being the state where I grew up, graduated from high school, and continued on to college in, I do have quite an attachment to Iowa.

I enjoy traveling quite a bit, and anyone who has traveled extensively and studied abroad knows what I’m talking about— experiencing new cultures, languages, food, and interesting people. Traveling outside the United States makes us realize how much we have to be thankful for.

Our material goods and our lifestyles are the envy of the world. Our freedom, rights, and the stability of our government is something to be proud of, though we also realize that we have an important responsibility to maintain our democracy and keep our politicians honest.

My U.S. identity showed itself often. The U.S. passport is an incredibly valuable portion of our citizenship. As a U.S. citizen, I could travel anywhere in the world and purchase a visa as I entered the country.

Many other citizens are required to apply for a visa and pay a hefty price to gain entry into that country. Our American passport is valuable for another reason.

While in the West Bank this summer, as a U.S. citizen, I was allowed to pass (most of the time) through roadblocks, while many Palestinians weren’t allowed to pass. Our passport is so powerful that we have more rights in a place than the people who live there.

Another thing I noticed while traveling this summer is that we could pay for just about anything in American dollars. The American dollar is fairly stable and has good exchange rates with many of the world’s currencies. The American dollar will work for anything from purchasing my visa for entry into Turkey to paying taxi drivers in the West Bank.

As a traveling American, I did notice some unfortunate things about our nationality. Our nation’s current policy of pre-emptive war has really turned the world against our government.

Discussing this with the man sitting next to me on the airplane home, I learned that he was disappointed that, because of our nationality, we were being discriminated against and harassed.

My travels this summer taught me a lot. But every time I come home to Iowa from visiting Istanbul, or after attending service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, I realize how lucky I am to have a home and a family in Iowa, but most importantly a future that I can determine on my own.