I am 20 years old, and based off of my quick calculations, I have visited over 10 countries in my lifetime. As some of you may know, I do suffer from the travel-bug, so these calculations are not surprising for me. Some of these trips were planned by a travel agent, some were entirely planned myself. Some were family vacations, some were solo-travels. Regardless of the differing characteristics, I always walk out of each new country learning something new about the hidden truths behind traveling.
My dad once told me that on every great trip, at least one thing (major or minor) will likely go wrong. So far, this has been the truth. None of the trips I have planned have gone smoothly by any means. However that is the truth behind traveling.
Yes, you may have to walk for miles, carrying a heavy overnight bag in an attempt to find your hostel. Yes, you may be studying in a foreign country with a massive language barrier and Google Translate is your new best friend. Yes, you may realize you don’t have a ticket for a flight you have to be on that departs in less than an hour. Yes, you may forget your shampoo or razor and lack a sense of cleanliness for a few days. Yes, you may underestimate the amount of time needed to get to the airport and have to shove through hundreds of people (only to get yelled at by at least half of them) to get to your flight with minutes to spare. Yes, you may accidentally leave your wallet at a bar in Barcelona and only have 10 Euros to your name.
Yes, all of this can happen to you, because it happened to me. But when I look back at all of these experiences (and travel disasters), I cannot help but feel extremely appreciative of the things that went wrong. Primarily, they serve as learning experiences and I will know better for the next time. But overall, it has helped me mature and grow. In these times of disaster and turmoil, it seems so easy to close-up and become extremely anxious. However, in these situations I have managed to assess the disaster at hand and take any necessary measures to fix the situation as best as possible.
Let’s just hope that we have fewer disasters in the second half of my study abroad experience…
