Leaving to Travel

for those hoping but not prepared

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." – Lao Tzu

Traveling can be an exciting experience. You never know for sure what it is that you will find or encounter. And our experiences will never be the same. Never.

This all depends on the factors: place, mood, and people. You and I can go to the same place, same time, same tours or adventures, spend the same amount, and still have completely different takes about the travel.

So no one can ever compare the experiences of others and assume that you’ll feel exactly the same or enjoy yourself as much.

I wish someone would have told me that before I left…

When I was twelve years old, I remember clearly asking my mother if I could do a year abroad in the United States. Her response was that I was too young to leave. So I ask the next year, and the next, and the next.

The reason behind my desire to do a year abroad was to have a change of scenery. I was so tired of always going to the same school with the same classmates that ignored me. I wanted to see if the problem was myself or the environment.

Why the United States though? Simple, because London is too far away – for the taste of my mom – and the conversion of Dominican peso to Sterling Pound is way too expensive. I also grew up in a very "United States" environment, in the sense that I attended a school where the teachers were from the States, my childhood was filled with "United States" influenced programs, and the books I read were situated in the States. I wanted to see for myself if everything was as I imagined it.

So you can imagine my joy when my mom said that I could go abroad with AFS after asking her for five years straight! But I didn’t get to go to the States. The organization elected me to do my year abroad in Italy.

Now Italy is not bad at all. When you think of Italy, you immediately see pasta, renown landmarks, mustached men, and the famous hand-sign. The one where you gather your fingers, as if you’re about to say "Chef’s kisses", and move your wrists up and down. Yet my dream was not Italy, it was the US. Italy was – and is – my sister’s dream.

I won’t deny that I was bummed for a while, but at the end of the day, I just wanted a change of scenery. I wanted to escape my own reality. So I accepted.

I accepted despite everyone around me thinking I was absolutely crazy. I was leaving on my last year of high school – the year where so many memories are created; where the whole class goes on the ultimate trip; where there is the banquet, the dance to announce the class name; where there is the fundraisers and charity time; the last year with my friends. Despite what everyone was saying, it isn’t hard to leave that all behind when you don’t feel part of it.

I accepted despite having my family – mainly my very traditional grandmother – judge my decision and not understand why. She didn’t understand that going abroad would open my eyes to the world. That learning a new language was one of my dreams (I want to be a polyglot). That going abroad was an amazing opportunity in general. Despite not having the blessing of every family member, I left. It wasn’t their decision to make at the end of the day, it was mine.

My year abroad was nothing like I imagined it would be. I thought that I would be able to finally be how I wanted to be: free and happy. I thought that I would be able to speak with everyone and make friends immediately.

What I didn’t realize was that:

1. I couldn’t be how I wanted to be if I was not mentally and emotionally stable.

2. I couldn’t speak with everyone if I didn’t know the language and no one made the effort to try and understand me.

3. I couldn’t make friends immediately if I couldn’t speak with others and no one actually wanted to get to know the new girl.

I’m not saying that my experience abroad was terrible. I’m not saying that no one should ever do a year abroad.

I’m just saying that my experience will never be yours. That because I had issues at the beginning, you will have the same issues.

If there is something that I could tell you about leaving to travel is that it’s an amazing opportunity, but you need to be in the right state of mind – emotionally and mentally – to actually get the chance to enjoy it to its fullest.

My #somethingdifferent of the day is to appreciate the small steps of the journey;

the steps of life in general. There are so many things to be grateful for!

What will be your #somethingdifferent?

– Ciana Isabel