Oh October…
Two days after my high school graduation I began a journey that has now taken me through 18 different states and 10 different countries over the course of nearly 5 months. With the oncoming months, this count will only rise.
“Where are you from?” A question that every military brat HATES to answer. Simply because there is no real answer. Do you want to know where I was born? Where I lived for elementary, middle, or high school? Do you want to know where my favorite place I’ve lived has been? Having a father who joined the military straight out of high school to create a better life for himself & for his future family is without a doubt the spark that ignited my will to travel.
If someone had asked me a year ago where I thought I would be now, I would’ve told them that I’d be attending college in Florida…not that I would be working on a huge horse farm in small town Plungė, Lithuania. So, when my best friend Aidan O’Connor messaged me in the middle of our senior year of high school asking me if I wanted to take a gap year to travel the world with him, of course I was taken aback. The thought of traveling around the world was something that had always crossed my mind, but being a small female, traveling alone was a fear of mine. But, now that a friend was willing to do the same thing I had always wished of, my ‘dream’ seemed far more attainable. My interest in taking a gap year only grew as Aidan and I researched websites like “WWOOF” and “Workaway.” Through these websites, we would be able to find host families and travel to different countries to work on farms, at hostels, or on construction projects. Instead of pay, we would receive free food and shelter.
However, coming from a typical conservative household and having an Asian mother, feeling the pressure to follow the social constructs of attending college were strong. When I decided to take a gap year it was difficult for me to find the courage to express this to my parents. I was so afraid to tell my parents that I had to send my father an e-mail with links supporting gap years and a lengthy message from myself explaining my feelings towards gap years and travel. I’ve attached the e-mail below to give you all a personal viewpoint:
At the end of my e-mail, I attached the link to the Florida State Gap Year Fellowship information. “I think it says a lot that my future college of choice offers scholarships for students to take a gap year.” I really do believe that this was the one thing that convinced my parents to support me, and for that I am so grateful. They no longer had the fear that I wouldn’t attend college, and knowing that I would have some funding from my school settled their nerves. I won’t lie, Aidan and I are a very spontaneous pair, so I understand my parents and their concern for my wellbeing. Even to this day, Aidan and I don’t have a plan set in stone for our gap year. Next month Aidan and I will travel through Latvia to get to Estonia where we will take a ferry to Finland. From Helsinki, we will fly to Malaysia, with layovers in Amsterdam and Hong Kong. In December, I will go to Korea then back to Malaysia where I will stay until February. From there, we plan to travel to Thailand, and beyond that we don’t really have a plan.
It’s hard to write a blog post about yourself and feel humble. 19 years ago, I was born, and I owe everything since then to my parents. They raised a tolerant, creative, and open-minded individual. More often than not, high schoolers feel the pressure of graduating and then attending a college. By taking a gap year, as many people in Europe will agree, I have been given the opportunity to explore the world and in turn, understand who I am. In the past 5 months, I have discovered more about myself than ever before. Being able to hear stories from people that I meet from all kinds of different backgrounds has given me a newfound sense of comprehension. I am able to relate and empathize with the difficulties that others go through. This gap year has allowed me to see the world in a new light. It has taught me new skills, skills in communication, physical skills concerning construction and farming, but above all this gap year has taught me patience.
Two days after my high school graduation I began a journey that has now taken me through 18 different states and 10 different countries over the course of nearly 5 months. With the oncoming months, this number will only rise…and I couldn’t be more excited.
