what it means to be fascinated by new places

Since beginning Voss by Patrick White, I’ve been struggling to find pieces of the book of which to comment on in this blog. To try to relate to a piece of fiction is difficult. I’m ¼ of the way through with the book and I’ve found it to be a bit melodramatic so far, especially when trying to draw parallels. However, I can appreciate a bit of what’s in the piece so far.

What I’ve read so far is the preparation and beginning of Voss’s expedition. Much has been his interactions with the locals and the relationships that he’s built with them. There is a lot of anticipation from the locals over the unexplored territory that he’s going to and they think of the character Voss. Voss is very casual about the expedition and lives very much in his own world. The locals are quite the opposite. Here is an example of one interaction:

“But I am inclined to believe, Mr. Voss, that you will discover … something resembling the bottom of the sea. That is my humble opinion.”
“Have you walked upon the bottom of the sea?” the German (Voss) asked.
“No.”
“I have not,” said Voss “Except in dreams, of course. That is why I am fascinated by the prospect before me.”

That sort of “it’s my business, not yours” attitude is prevalent throughout. Voss appears to be travelling very much for his own enrichment as a person.
Perhaps what I should take away from this book is that I too need to be travelling for my own personal benefit and not react to other’s assumptions and judgments. I should be happy to be somewhere new to me, personally, regardless if it’s overtly touristy or nothing deemed “special” by others.

I recently spoke with my native European friend who's currently abroad herself in Canada. I told her about where I'm going next week, and her reaction was along the lines of "there's better places to go to/ that's a bit touristy". This wasn't meant to be offensive at all, just her honest opinion. I appreciate the honesty. But an American's experience in Bruges compared to a Finnish person's would be considerably different and I need to keep this in mind. As a "non-native", of course things are going to seem different.

I'm looking forward to this next week travelling outside of France. I'm going with my own point of view and that's satisfying enough for me.

-Maria