Am I a Tourist or Guest?  Studying abroad in Brazil

A guest, on the other hand, is someone who has been invited into another group.  Usually accompanied by an insider, guests are able to gain a unique perspective.  They have been given “approval” to observe, tather than being a voyeur or an interloper.  A guest if often welcomed and given access to spaces tourists would not be able to occupy.  So, where does a student fit in?

            A student has a deep interest in gaining  knowledge about the country they are studying.  This knowledge will inevitably impact upon what a student sees, what country a student chooses to study.  This knowledge affects how the student is accepted abroad and at home.  A student is given access to spaces otherwise closed to the general public.  Thus, a student is somewhat of a guest.  Because of their genuine interest in learning, people often receive students welcomingly, as they would a valued guest.

            As a student, one can examine things academically that they can apply to their immediate experience as a guest, therefore, providing the student with greater understanding.  A tourist lacks the historical, social, and cultural context for viewing things.  This is not to say that students do not visit tourist sights or commit the faux pas that tourists do.  I feel students are, for the most part, guests in the country they are studying in, even though at times they may feel like tourists.

            Throughout this trip, I have been a student.  I have studied and examined my surroundings from an academic perspective.  I have been able to apply an historical context to my immediate experience and therefore have gained an understanding of Brazil far beyond that of a tourist.  Unlike a tourist, my experience in Brazil has been associated with a lot of hard work.  Not only in my courses, but also in my dailly struggle to learn Portuguese, capoeira, and Brazilian culture.

            I have experienced being a guest because I was a student when I visited Real Parque – a favela in Morumbi, Sao Paulo.  Because a trusted priest invited us in and accompanied us through the favela, people were welcoming and accepting.  When I went back to the favela to learn about capoeira, I was received with kindness and hospitality.

            This said, however, in Manaus, I saw the palafita* favela shacks and I felt like a voyeur.  I felt like I was invading rhe residents’ privacy and intruding into their lives – even though I was just looking at their houses from afar.

            In the favela, Real Parque, I felt that because the Padre was with me, I was allowed to walk through, look around, even take pictures.  Even though I felt awkwayd, I believed that the Padre made it okay.  However, near the palafita, I felt like I had no right to take a picture.  I felt like a tourist, even though I knew I was taking pictures to educate people back home about “Brazilian Realities.”  It was as if all of a sudden I was an interloper and a student simultaneously. 

            I felt the same way watching the Tariano Native Peoples in the Rain Forest.  Even though, our guide Luis brought us as his guests, I felt like a show was being put on for us, although I was told that they were not doing so.  I felt like a tourist, peeping in on something that was taken out of context.  I did not feel like I was part of a greater historical reference than known by the three tourists next to me.  Perhaps my way of analyzing the situation academically allowed for a different understanding than available to tourists.

            In this brief essay, I have examined how students are separate from tourists.  I suggest that, as guests, students are able to see how eco-tourism really destroys fragile ecosystems and that beautiful Brazilian churches were built by the sweat and blood of slaves.  While a tourist visits a Minas Gerais gold mine to see caves, a student understands the slave narratives that accompany it.  Because as a guest, they have talked to people inaccessible to tourists and have read the history behind the mines, students are able to come to a country like Brazil and interview locals and examine controversial subjects that tourists could never have access to, or perhaps even care to examine.

            So, to return to my original question, where is the line between tourists and guests?  Briefly summarized, tourists are outside observers – unable to truly penetrate and understand.  As interlopers, tourists are generally not accepted into many social spaces.  This limits their access to knowledge.  Students can become quasi-insiders.  As guests, they are invite d into groups because they desire knowledge, therefore gaining a unique perspective on lives in the countries where they study. 

Union College Student, 2001