Joshua Nazario

Professor Jeannot

ENC 1102

12 January 2022

The Conquest of Today

In 1513 the Spanish Conquistador, Ponce De Leon, landed on American soil near St.

Augustine Florida, which is known to be the country’s oldest city that is still occupied. He is one

of whom I am sure many people have heard of, especially those currently residing in Florida.

These early explorers traveled to new places without a full idea of where they were going or

what troubles would arise in their paths. They were called “conquistadors” (or conquerors) be-

cause of their force and ambition to take power over a place or group of people (Florida Center

for Instructional Technology). However, the word “conquer” need not always imply violence,

but may simply refer to successfully completing a difficult goal. My dream is to conquer in this

particular way: to learn the cultures of people across the world, including a basic grasp of various

languages, experience the beauties of the landscapes in various countries and continents, and to

record it all to educate and inspire others to explore like I did.

When traveling to a foreign country you must enter with an open mind, “accepting

you’re a cultural child” in the well said words of Laguna Levine, who describes the attitude one

must have to live and properly learn a new culture (Tofugu). I have quickly learned the last cou-

ple years that without bias, ignorance, or prejudice, you can learn and take in ten times more

knowledge from a situation or person. To conquer this goal of assimilation, acquiring social and
psychological attribute from a particular group, an open or child-like mind is a necessity. I yearn

for this curiosity to be able to question and learn so much from many viewpoints, just as I did in

my youth. In addition to the material aspect of the culture, one must also learn or understand

the written and spoken language to some degree to truly grasp an outside culture. For example,

coming from Pennsylvania we used the phrase ‘in like a lion, out like a lamb’ to represent the

weather in the month of March. However, I have questioned several Florida natives, and they

have not used or even heard of that phrase due to the climate differences, especially in March.

This is true also with folktales and sayings that vary all across the world, and one must interact

with various individuals to absorb these small yet interesting facts and cultural contrasts.

The second reason I would like to travel is to experience the landscapes of different

countries. A passion of mine is photography and collecting film cameras. Nature is my favorite

thing to capture in a photograph; the amount of beauty that goes unseen or overlooked amazes

and saddens me at times. I could view a tree I have not seen before for at least an hour; the

leaves, flowers, bark, and roots vary from tree to tree, and it amazes me how they go through

such tremendous cycles year after year. Another extraordinary topographical feature are moun-

tains; the largest being Mt. Everest at 29,035 feet above sea level. It is located on the border of

Nepal and Tibet, which are both very mountainous regions. In nearby lower laying areas, these

countries’ temperatures are moderate year round, and yet the top of the mountains are dan-

gerously cold and always glazed with a white snow (Krakauer). It is simply amazing that these

two environments can be so close to each other, yet so distant in temperature and in their po-

tential for life. There is always something we can learn about the Earth, even that part on which

we have been living our whole lives.

 Lastly, I would like to share these memories, knowledge, and images with others so that

they may learn and share the same dream I do. I strongly appreciate a good work of non-fiction,

mostly pertaining to travel or the world, although I have not yet found one that describes all of

which I want to know about the world. Subsequently, this is why part of my dream is to write

about my travels. Perhaps someday even teach to via verbal teachings as well as the written

ones. Hand in hand with my writing, the pictures I take amongst the future years of my life will

also help paint that perfect picture of how I see the world and the importance of the beauty

I’ve seen.

My own personal “conquest” is to travel the world to see great landscapes and the

beauties of our earth in addition to assimilating the cultures and languages of the world into my

own knowledge and writing. After graduating from college, I will start my dream of traveling the

world. Along the way, I will be writing of my experiences and photographing them to go along

side each other in a print or online blog. I hope that by reading my work, others will take a

closer look at their surroundings and learn more about their home area, and perhaps gain an in-

terest in travelling, too.