Growing up, I always yearned to see something bigger than myself. To view something with history and prominence. To experience something greater than living vicariously through various Instagrams.
Of course, there have been opportunities for me to travel. Promises of cruises and airplane flights. An exchange student deal that collapsed in the summer. Regardless, the furthest I have journeyed from my hometown is Washington D.C. However, fellow students, friends, are traveling and relocating. Europe. Alaska. Seattle. Boston. New York City. As the Instagram posts are uploaded and the Facebook statuses are updated, my wanderlust increases.
However, what made my wanderlust "official", so to speak, was the experience of hosting a German exchange student. She opened my eyes to so much in the three short weeks she stayed with me, and I was envious of how much she had experienced (especially since she was younger than me). My heart broke when she left, and when I was unable to stay with her afterwards.
I can’t help but ask myself: why do I want to travel? Why do we, as a society, emphasize traveling so much? The idea of gap years. Honeymoons and vacations out of the country. Commercials portraying scenic landscapes that simply can’t be real. "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?" isn't a question just for ice-breaker games.
For me, the urge to travel, wanderlust, finds its roots in the idea of living. Beyond more than a coming-of-age concept for novels and movies.
I doubt that I have experienced a full life until I grab my passport, pack a duffel bag, and leave the country, whether for a week or a month or a year. Until I have visited Greece or Rome or London (which I have planned to do since I was in sixth grade). Just somewhere not here. Somewhere I can say I have journeyed beyond New Orleans or Virginia's interstate.
Furthermore, exploring will help me grow more as a person. Be a better version of myself. Sure, my favorite movie Sabrina might have romanticized that aspect for me, but regardless. I want to be like my father who tries to visit a different location once a year, or at least like my mother who has made numerous states her home. Her friends kept her address in pencil instead of pen.
Contrary to being raised in a sheltered household, traveling will expose me to so many different ideas and concepts and people, whether I am in the country for an hour or a day or a week. I want stories to tell when I am older. I want to have something worth saying.
There is a British Studies program offered at my university on the horizon, so fingers crossed. I have to start somewhere.
As Susan Sontag said, “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”