Where Do You Belong?

I lived in a vibrant coastal city called Chennai in the southern part of India for the first 17 years of my life. I discovered my love for travelling and experiencing new cultures when I was 16. I applied for a cultural exchange program to Japan. Travelling to Japan was an experience that changed my life.

Japan turned the fussy eater in me into a foodie. I fell in love with Japanese cuisine. Japanese food tantalized my taste buds and made me crave cuisines from around the world. I spent a week travelling to some of the major Japanese cities including Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Meeting a 96-year old survivor of the Nagasaki bombing taught me that strength and perseverance come from within your soul and that there should be nothing that keeps you from getting up every time you fall. I became more optimistic in the way I perceive hardships.

After 5 years, I was ecstatic to visit the land of the rising sun again! I got an opportunity to work on stem cell research at the University of Tokyo. That was one of the best summers of my life, and I truly discovered myself. My solo adventures taught me that I don’t need a group of people to have fun, and that I should never refrain from doing things I love just because there is no one else who wants to do it with me. I felt empowered and content in my solitude. And along the way I met some wonderful people who taught me to be more spontaneous, to let go of things that cannot be controlled, to be free.














Slowly and steadily, travel helped me evolve into newer and better versions of myself. Last summer, I traveled to Israel. The concept of Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, seemed strange to me at first. It starts with sunset on Friday and ends with sunset on Saturday evening marking the end of a week and the beginning of a new one. This day of rest is meant to be a break from work, using electronic equipment and cooking. I was exposed to this culture during the summer vacation of graduate school, the busiest time of my life, a time when squeezing an assignment between coffee and breakfast in the morning was a satisfying accomplishment; a time when it felt like there is so much work that you might forget to breathe. This was a beautiful break from my hectic life. After experiencing Sabbath, I found new meaning and pleasure in living a slow-paced life, in resting my mind and soul from the rigor of this busy and modern world we live in, a world that thinks the busier you are the more accomplished you must be.

Travel has never failed to sculpt me into a newer and more nuanced version of myself. Every time, I travel, I take back with me a piece of culture and countless memories that give my life greater meaning. But the more I travel, the less I feel like I belong to just one city or town. Having lived in so many different places, I often catch myself wondering, where do I belong? The only answer I can come up with is ... maybe everywhere, all at once. After all, the world is one big city, and we are all one people.

Aruna Muthukumar

Co-leader

International Center Student Council