{"id":3231,"date":"2017-01-01T19:14:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-01T19:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/?p=3231"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:56:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:56:31","slug":"the-art-of-travel-gregory-hess-and-don-morel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/2017\/01\/01\/the-art-of-travel-gregory-hess-and-don-morel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Travel\u2014Gregory Hess and Don Morel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Wabash leaders\u2014Wabash President Gregory Hess and Head Football Coach Don Morel\u2014 offer their takes, from very different perspectives, on the value of travel.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Art of Travel<\/h2>\n

by Gregory Hess<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was about to enter college and Freddie Laker and People\u2019s Express were driving down international airfares, my father found an inexpensive flight that allowed my older sister and me to explore France for two months.<\/p>\n

Five stops (including an emergency landing in Shannon, Ireland \u201cto pick up parts\u201d) and too many hours later, we landed in Paris. We found a rickety student hostel near to the Oberkampf Metro station and collapsed.<\/p>\n

Jet-lagged when I woke up the next morning, I stumbled downstairs to light pouring into the room and breakfast on the table\u2014baskets of baguettes next to bowls of butter and jam and slices of bread.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaf\u00e9 ou chocolat?\u201d\u00a0the waiter asked.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t a coffee drinker, but figured this must be the kind of moment it was made for. The waiter brought me a bowl of coffee with steamed milk.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been hooked ever since.<\/p>\n

Two months wandering the cities, towns, and countryside of France made travel a lifetime habit, too.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exhilarating, it\u2019s exhausting. Sometimes travel recharges you, sometimes it\u2019s like putting your finger in a light socket.<\/p>\n

It amplifies everything about life, which may be why travel stories are some of our most memorable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Travel has brought Lora,<\/strong> our daughters, and me together in ways few things can. Without the distractions of our everyday lives, we\u2019re all four locked in and focused, all in it together.<\/p>\n

Creating a sense of home in an unfamiliar place becomes an art, and there are many skills to be learned.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also why we try to make a travel experience part of every student\u2019s Wabash education.<\/p>\n

The face-to-face learning that infuses our classrooms is excellent preparation for stepping into another culture.<\/p>\n

Travel strengthens you, no matter what you encounter in life. You learn to deal with setbacks and late trains; you learn how to figure it out when things go completely awry and you don\u2019t speak the language. It teaches you about responsibility: how to protect your passport, money, and to help your fellow travelers (even if you\u2019re just carrying their luggage) along the way.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of downtime, too. Sometimes you are waiting hours for a bus or plane. Sometimes the train doesn\u2019t have Wi-Fi. You get a chance to disconnect and reflect. Many people make major life decisions while traveling, because you can take a deep breath, look at a blanker slate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s<\/strong> the adventure.<\/p>\n

When I was studying at the London School of Economics during my junior year in college, a couple friends and I decided to go to Spain. I remember reading\u00a0The Sun Also Rises<\/em>\u00a0on what had to be the slowest train between Paris and Madrid, arriving during Easter Week and the\u00a0Semana Santaprocessions.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of that trip we traveled to Morocco, with me lugging my econ books through the streets of Meknes and Fez. In the latter city we got to know some Moroccan students, and we decided to go to a movie together\u2014Raiders of the Lost Ark,<\/em>\u00a0a favorite of my father\u2019s and mine and a film I\u2019d seen several times.<\/p>\n

You may recall the famous scene (filmed in neighboring Tunisia) in which Indiana Jones encounters an Arab swordsman who displays his skills with the blade and threatens to kill him. In the improvised version of the scene used in the movie, Jones simply draws his gun and shoots him. In the United States it drew the biggest laughs in the film.<\/p>\n

But sitting with our new Arab friends and as one of only three non-Arabs in the theater, I started looking around to make sure I knew where the exits were. I just wasn\u2019t sure how that scene would translate culturally.<\/p>\n

But our Moroccan friends laughed harder than I did. It seemed like everyone in the theater thought the scene was the funniest thing imaginable.<\/p>\n

I realized then that there really are some universal constants. You don\u2019t always know where they are, and you have to be cautious and humble as you search for them. But that was a moment of understanding for me, one I could only get by traveling thousands of miles from home to an unfamiliar culture and place.<\/p>\n

Like most learned from traveling, it is a lesson that informs me still.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Morel Mindset<\/h2>\n

by Richard Paige<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life is more than school and football for Coach Don Morel. His philosophy is on full display when the Little Giants are on the road.<\/p>\n

Sure, expectations are high\u2014to play well and to win\u2014and the team travels first class to road games, stays in nice hotels, and shuttles around in busses equipped with Wi-Fi and satellite TV.<\/p>\n

And rest\u2014the players get a chance to rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the rigors of Wabash College, a road game is better for our kids,\u201d Morel says. \u201cThey look at the trip as a three- or four-hour nap.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, on our way to a game, the kids do some studying and we might put a movie on. After the game, it\u2019s more fun. We put other games on, there is food on the bus, and we try and get back to campus as quickly as possible so the kids can get back to a normal routine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what happens between those bus rides that reveals the Morel mindset.<\/p>\n

A Wabash football coach since 2011, Morel is a master of the side trip\u2014a brief excursion to take the focus off of football and school. In 2012, the squad visited the St. Louis Zoo while on a road trip to face Washington University. Just last year, the team visited Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln and Washington Monuments while in Virginia on the season-opening road trip.<\/p>\n

It breaks the monotony and can leave a lasting impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is just so much to see out there,\u201d Morel explains. \u201cGoing to the zoo might not sound like a big deal, but when you\u2019ve been blasted away with academics for seven weeks and you get to spend the day at a zoo, that\u2019s a great experience. And if you are going to be in Washington, D.C., you might as well see Washington, D.C. If you talk to kids who went on that trip, they will talk about that visit to Arlington and the monuments. At some point, they will mention, by the way, we won the football game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morel\u2019s sense of place even applies to the after-game menu on the bus. Although he grew up in Los Angeles and lived in Chicago, the coach fiercely appreciates the uniqueness of small town life.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery small town has one place that makes something special,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our opponents go the franchise route and save a buck a sandwich. To me that\u2019s silly. You\u2019ve got 60 kids on a trip and you save 60 bucks for a lousy sandwich. Life\u2019s too short.\u201d<\/p>\n

He rattles off some of the places he frequents\u2014Nelson\u2019s Cheese & Deli in St. Thomas, or Der Dutchman, a broasted chicken place at Ohio Wesleyan, or The Whole Darn Thing (\u201cthe best meatball sub I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d) near Allegheny. It adds a little spice (sometimes literally) to the trip.<\/p>\n

The Morel mindset carries into the postseason, as well. Last year during the Little Giants\u2019 quarterfinal playoff appearance in St. Paul, MN, the team squeezed in another side trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are going to be in Minnesota, you gotta go see that Mall of America,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was an absolutely great experience. Something else besides school and football.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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