Born To Flee
How do you know you’re destined to leave?
Is there something that all ex-pats share that makes them shift their feet?
I was eight, maybe nine. I was glued to the TV. On it, in that crazy time before streaming, was a show about someone who had been traveling the world for months. My little mind was blown. I thought people only went on vacation for a few days at a time, a week max. But months? And the outside world didn’t just consist of beaches and hotels, but entire countries with different foods, languages, and things to see. Instead of looking for my ‘Babysitters Club’ books at our library trip, I found books on learning to speak Italian. I didn’t even know where, or what Italy was, but I knew it was out there. In the world. And one day I could go visit it.
A few years later, we had our first exchange student at my school from Japan. I volunteered to show her to her classes and stalked her until she became my friend. I was obsessed. I asked way too many questions, and any comment she had about something small like Japanese food or something more different, like how they didn’t celebrate Christmas, would send my brain into a new frenzy. I couldn’t believe how different the same world could be. Why didn’t I know this before? Why didn’t they tell me what was out there? I started planning trips…
