The trip that transformed me: The university graduate By Mia Simon
Australian Vanessa Costanzo expected her university
experience to prepare her for adulthood, but ∈ reality, she
said, it prepared her only for a job. So after she graduated
from Curtin University ∈Western Australia ∈February
2013, she decided to travel.
Costanzo hoped to gain worldly knowledge that she
craved by spending seven months exploring Europe and
parts of the Middle East. Starting ∈2014, the lessons
came fast and furious.
Her first stop was Dubai. Not long after she arrived,
she recalled watching men from Pakistan and India ∈ blue
jumpsuits working tirelessly ∈ the sweltering heat1 to
manage the upkeep of Sheikh Zayed Road, a major city
thoroughfare2.
Unlike Costanzo, they were not ∈a foreign country on
holiday. A cab driver told her that most were working for
minimal pay and living ∈ substandard conditions. Much of
the money they earned they sent home to their families.
How did he know? He had a wife and child back home
∈ his native India. He hadn’t seen them ∈a year.
The lesson hit her hard: If you have the means to
travel, as she did, you’re fortunate. And you don’t need
material possessions to be happy.
Glossary:
1. sweltering heat: oppressively hot
2. thoroughfare: a main road
Source: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150224-the-trip-that-transformed-me-the-universitygraduate. Adapted.
According to the text, it is CORRECT to affirm that the word “fortunate”, ∈ line 22, is equivalent to:
