Documenting Your Life Abroad

This guide to documenting your travels covers two techniques:

Keeping a Journal

Why keep a journal while you're abroad?
A journal:
  • Helps you recall and recreate what you have seen and experienced, in different ways than photographs can;
  • Provides you with material for future writing (essays, articles, research, a senior honors thesis or independent study, travel writing, etc.);
  • Allows you to get to know yourself in a deeper, fuller way than is often possible in the bustle of everyday life;
  • Helps you become much more alert – reading over your journal entries through time, you'll see yourself grow from being an outsider to being an insider;
  • Allows you to capture moments of insight, which you can later go back and think about more deeply;
  • Keeps you company, and prevents you from being lonely.

Remember the "4 M’s":

  • MEMORY: Capture the moment intensely; otherwise you'll forget it. Writing enhances your memory.
  • MOMENT: If you journal, you will be attuned to tiny things and immerse yourself in the moment.
  • MATERIAL: Something will likely emerge from your informal, personal writings; make a record of these insights for later.
  • ME: Journaling helps you process your own experiences and life and learn about yourself.

What should you write in your journal?

  • As much sensory descriptive detail as possible; you want to create a sensory memory
  • First impressions and lingering images
  • Narratives of what you do, what you say, and what others do and say
  • Write on every other line so you can go back and add things later, if you wish.
  • Names, places, snippets of information, and the addresses of people you meet.
  • Go by yourself to places, and write about these "solo" experiences!
  • Write for your most private and intimate self. Don't write with intent – just write whatever comes to mind.
  • For lots of great tips on travel journal writing, see travel writer Dave Fox's Web site, "Writing the Inner Journey," at www.traveljournaling.com

What kind of materials should you use?

  • An inexpensive notebook with a hard cover. Don't buy anything fancy – you want to be comfortable writing whatever you want. It should be small enough so you can carry it wherever you go, but large enough so you can write in it easily.
  • Put your name, address, and a phone number on the notebook cover and inside, so it can be returned to you if lost. Use a phone number you would feel comfortable with the public knowing, for safety reasons.
  • To prevent water damage, use inexpensive pens with waterproof ink and carry your notebook in a Ziploc bag.

What should you do with your journal when you return home?

Taking photographs

Why take photographs?
Photographs help you:

  • Communicate your experiences to friends and family.
    You are going to see, experience, and change so much, and you will want to share your experience with them. Sometimes it will feels as if you're speaking another language, but the pictures will give them a hint of what you're talking about.
  • Document your experiences.
    Later you'll forget people's names, the exact places you stopped, how you looked when you went hang-gliding, etc. Photos are a practical way to keep a record.
  • Remember what was important to you.
    Take pictures of what strikes you, what amazes you, what makes you think, what makes you glad you are abroad.

Some tips for taking photo

  • Take pictures of how you see the world you are in and how it makes you feel. Document what you experience internally. Your pictures should communicate something that was important and special to you, how you felt and what your reactions were, and how you SAW something while you were abroad. You see a billion pictures of buildings and monuments, but the one of the couple sitting on the river's shore at sunset enjoying the scenery and relaxing will better communicate the time and place to you than another picture of the bridge. Capture the moment and, more importantly, your feelings, your emotional memories.
  • Take pictures of "postcard" sites also, because it's cheaper than buying postcards. But personalize the photos by finding meaningful angles or doing funny things in front of the sites.
  • Take your camera to as many places as possible, and take pictures of anything you might want a shot of later. Don't regret not having taken your camera or missing a photo!
  • Use a digital camera! You can e-mail your photos to friends and family, and you can clean your photos up in Photoshop so the images look more like you remember them. If you can, bring different cameras with you for different purposes (digital, 35 mm, a special camera for black and white film).
  • Take pictures you will want to look at! You'll remember the time and people better when the photos capture the expressions and crazy things you and your friends did. Capture the mountain-peak experiences that rise out of the day-to-day. Take pictures of people, places, and things that are important to you—even if the photos look like they could have been taken anywhere. Make sure to take pictures of your city, the way of life there, and what strikes you when you are discovering it.
  • Take candid pictures of your friends. They capture what you were doing when you were abroad and what kind of mood you were in, which in turn will make your memories more vibrant. One of the most important things from your time abroad will undoubtedly be the friends you made.
  • Shoot different poses, interesting angles, made-up scenarios, and funny things. Don't be embarrassed to get on your hands and knees to get the shot!
  • Take pictures of change, e.g., of changes in friends' appearances, local landscapes (season to season), etc.
  • When possible, take pictures of strangers when the image strikes you or you feel it would capture the moment and place you were in. Sometimes you may need to ask permission – use discretion.
  • Consider taking or auditing a photography class. You may get free film and free developing, and the professor and other students give you great ideas.
  • At the end of your stay abroad, spend a couple of hours going around your city and taking pictures. Places and things that were not important to you before are now important. Take friends if you want, but going alone can be a great closure experience.
  • Learn more about taking photos in a culturally sensitive way here.

What should you do with your photos when you return home?