Some people find comfort in relationships and family, some find comfort in working up the job ladder and getting ahead of the next person, I find comfort in traveling, art and design. Its not that I ignore those other facets of life...they also have an important place and i cherish my friendships, family, and career. Its just that I feel most alive when exploring a new place, getting to know a new culture, and just sitting back and enjoying life.
I realized before I left the states for this new adventure there were two types of reaction when I explained my upcoming travels, some were excited for me and wished me the best (those whom actually inspired me to start this blog), and some questioned my intention to travel. The first questions were always said with a condecending voice "why?", "do you have a job lined up?", "what about your career?"...etc. As long as I have been traveling those are the questions asked by the typical american who find traveling not something you do as part of your life but something you do for vacation.
My response to this was developed over 5 years ago when i went on my first solo adventure to London. There were very few who were suportive of my move, a 6 month stint abroad after finishing my thesis. I had no job lined up but a few interviews and a set of 50+ resumes ready to hand out. No living accomodation but a week booked at a hostel near London Bridge. Nothing though could ever fully explain the feeling I had getting off the Heathrow Express at Paddington Station ready to attack my new city head on. That trip was a full success and the friends I met on that adventure made me realize that London was not just an experience before I started my "career" but the first of many worldly adventures. Upon my return I started a book about those travels but only got about 90 pages in before stopping since I had moved to Washington, DC and actually started transforming my Washington DC adventure. The intro to the book was this:
"While growing up I was led to believe that there was a set way to live your life. Of course there were variables; you never know where you are going to go to college, who you are going to marry, or if you are going to have two sons, five daughters or a mix. As a child I always knew how my life was going to play itself out. I would finish high school, of course with honors, go to a top college, get a job in whatever field I studied, get married, have children, expose my children to the same values that I grew up by, retire, and at some point die. Isnt that the American Dream? Somewhere along the way I fell off that horse. Not because I no longer had dreams or I became disillusioned, but because I realized that life isnt about living it how others or society see appropriate but through accomplishing the things that you really want to do and the way you want to do them. Life isnt about getting by but it is a series of experiences that you can shape and should be treated as such."
I think everyone should travel abroad, not to mention live abroad at least once in their lives. It not only gives you a look into a culture you might have only had stereotypes about but also gives you an appreciation for your homeland you might have not experienced before. The culture shock of traveling to a new country is nothing compared to the unexpected reverse culture shock you recieve when you arrive home. Its wierd, its amazing, its sometimes depressing, but as with everything else in life...its just an experience along the way.
So I hope from this blog on my travels I can keep those interested informed as to how my travels go. I hope I might inspire others to grab the one life you have and fully live it to the max, weither through travel or not. Most of all I hope all simply enjoy the stories!
