Assignment One

"Travel ought to combine amusement with instruction; but most travelers are so much amused that they refuse to be instructed. I do not blame them for being amused: it is perfectly natural to be amused at a Dutchman for being Dutch or a Chinaman for being Chinese. Where they are wrong is that the take their own amusement seriously. They base on it their serious ideas of international instruction."

 This quote states that when one travels they should be able to learn from their experience and not just focus on the comedic differences in cultures. That it is natural and not wrong for people to find new customs and cultures comical, but that shouldn't stop a person from trying to understand these differences. This amusement should remain as amusement and not be confused with an understanding or fact. Once a person seriously starts to analyze these differences in culture, they may not seem so strange or comedic after all.

The reason why I picked this quote was because laughter was my first responds when I first moved to San Diego, CA. A lot of things are different in San Diego compared to New York City. The cultures and customs  in San Diego are mostly surround around Mexican culture. New York City has many cultures that blends together to make its own. San Diego is also a slow moving town or as the natives say "laid back". An example of this would be I was the only one who jaywalked there. After a while I started to think of why these differences were and things seem to make more sense. Honestly I did still find it funny when a person would wait for the light to change before they crossed the street or how there was a taco shop on every corner, but this comedy had turn into more of a understanding. With this understanding the taco shops of San Diego have a similar appearance to having a pizza or Chinese restaurant on every corner in New York City.