Ever since I was a child, all I've ever wanted to do was travel.
Travel as far as my feet would take me; to places unknown, to scary places, to beautiful places, to depths where I never would have imagined myself. The beauty of travel is in many cases the simple unpredictability of who you'll meet, the cuisine that you'll get to experience, the struggles you'll face of being in another country away from the comforts of home, but above all else, just the novelty of being somewhere new.
I consider myself in many ways to have been fortunate enough to attend the end of my middle school and the majority of my high school in my mother's hometown in Colatina, Brazil. While a small town, being away from the United States and living outside the country for a few years instead of just visiting granted me new ways of looking at life: to be humble, to appreciate my family, understand the significance of each meal eaten, and ultimately to grasp the concept that while I may have been born in the US the world is so much richer and broader than I could have ever imagined.
The comfort of home has its merits, don't get me wrong. My family keeps me grounded, they are my basis and foundation on which I build myself on and my inner compass will always lead me where hearth, love, and food are found. Birds are much the same, remaining in the comfort of their mother's protection until they must take spread their wings and soar to the horizons ahead of them. Home is always my first and final destination, and for many of you readers, it probably is, too. But there's a lot of room to spread your wings to fly between the first and final chapter of your book, so don't be afraid to start filling them in with new and exciting tales about the lands you've yet to explore.
Personally, I grow twitchy and at times uncomfortable with the every day monotony that I find myself in and I think this isn't because of the place itself but because in many ways I correlate my personal growth with going to new place, learning new and exciting things, and ultimately getting out of my comfort zone. Naturally, being a college student severely limits this when my priority is maintaining academics at the forefront of whatever I do.
However, and this is in large part why I'm writing this article today, next semester I will be studying abroad for the Spring 2017 semester in Ambialet, France.
I've always wanted to study abroad for the simple reason that it proves to be the loop-hole to both maintain my academics on-course and obviously I get to go to France and let my wanderlust go wild! Seeing all the new sights, smells, and people with an open-mind and open heart is all I've ever really wanted to really do. To see different perspectives, to live a different reality even for a few months can do wonders to how you visualize the world and actually learning from your overseas experiences does miracles in your personal character-building. I'm extremely excited to share this news with you all, and will most certainly be sure to follow up on it after I've finalized the process and am actually in France!
In going back to my main point, all I can do is avidly advocate that you simply GET OUT THERE AND SEE THE WORLD! I understand that financing, timing, and the reality of traveling may sometimes be difficult to schedule or manage (and I by no means grand stand as any type of traveling expert), there really is no comparison to seeing a country you've always dreamed of visiting. It doesn't need to be far. Hell, it doesn't even need to be far but I truly believe that you do yourself an enormous disservice by continuously parading around the same few places you always have.
Meet new people, eat new foods, learn something new and crazy about somewhere you've never even heard of before. Who knows what parts of yourself you may find in situations you'd never thought you'd actively participate in. While this is turning into a mini-lecture of me telling you to go out and see the world, my wanderlust itches too much when I begin to consider the notion of settling down in one place for long.
I won't lie, I simply can't see the appeal of staying in one place unless a very big reason compelled me to stay there, or I had active responsibilities to uphold. My body may be here at Curry College but my soul is walking the Sahara desert, my feet long to glide along the Columbian coast, and my mind can only visualize a spinning globe with 196 options to choose from. I see no reason why you or I should ever limit ourselves to one.
My heart is a compass with no northern pull, but I faithfully follow the random tug of that needle that points to new horizons and destinations.
