{"id":2957,"date":"2017-03-08T16:14:59","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T16:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/?p=2957"},"modified":"2025-12-09T14:28:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T19:28:21","slug":"embracing-the-uncomfortable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2017\/03\/08\/embracing-the-uncomfortable\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing the Uncomfortable"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"two
Jacob Budler ’17, left, and Nicholas Budler ’19<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jacob Budler \u201917 and his younger brother Nicholas Budler \u201919 slept on the floor of their home the night before the big trip. Their family had sold most of their belongings in order for their\u00a0parents to become missionaries in Cape Town, South Africa. But they, as Jake said, \u201cwere just along for the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were kids,\u201d Nick added. \u201cWe had the typical questions like, \u2018Are there lions?\u2019 You don\u2019t really know what to expect, and that\u2019s probably the biggest part of it. I think that was tough \u2013 knowing that you\u2019re flying into the unknown and it wasn\u2019t just for a vacation, but I\u2019m glad I was forced into being uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brothers from Aurora, Illinois\u00a0agree that their time in South Africa was a good experience for them. They went to school, became friends, and lived amongst people from different cultures, places, and languages.<\/p>\n

The two really didn\u2019t have a choice when it came to moving to South Africa. But after realizing just how different and yet strongly connected people from around the planet can be, both Jake and Nick have a passion for learning about those very people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really subscribe to travel in such a soul-searching, find-yourself way, but more as a way to get other people\u2019s perspectives,\u201d Jake said. \u201cThe more you can understand where people are coming from, in the future, you can understand more people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"aCombined, the two Budler brothers have been to countless U.S. cities 15 countries \u2013 both because of and beyond Wabash College \u2013 including Botswana, Spain, Venezuela, and, next year, Nick will be studying abroad in South Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to put yourself in other people\u2019s shoes,\u201d Nick said, \u201cto scrap all of the prejudices that you have and put yourself in another environment in order to educate yourself and be a better person and better the world around you. And I don\u2019t think you can do that as well if you just stay in one place all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Budler brothers, travel is not just part of their college experience \u2013 it\u2019s enhanced it. They both have made friends at Wabash with whom they decide to travel with. They\u2019ve brought back stories that have helped them connect with others on campus. And they\u2019ve taken what they\u2019ve learned around the country and across the globe and applied it to their readings, their studies, and their classroom conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it should be a priority for everybody,\u201d Nick said, \u201cespecially considering the number of opportunities that Wabash gives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jacob Budler \u201917 and his younger brother Nicholas Budler \u201919 slept on the floor of their home the night before the big trip. Their family had sold most of their belongings in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/03\/Budlers1-e1488989344278.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2957"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3779,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2957\/revisions\/3779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}