After going to a new city each week, avoiding tap water for months, trying to study while planning my next adventure using only Wikitravel and living on a ship in the middle of the ocean, my semester around the world with Semester at Sea ended on April 16 as I got off the ship in Southampton, London. Even though the day was filled with teary-eyed goodbyes, I felt a very real sense of freedom and relief as I dragged my huge duffel bags and saw my dad for the first time since January. I had come full circle since he hugged me goodbye and dropped me off in San Diego, but I felt completely different.
Over the course of three months, I have tried weird foods like bullfrog in China and ostrich in South Africa, climbed a mountain, camel trekked through the Sahara Desert and spent the night stargazing, snorkeled with fish in Mauritius and traveled alone successfully in Vietnam. There are so many experiences I’ve had throughout my journey that I am forever grateful to my parents for, because without them, I wouldn’t have had the chance to do any of these things.
I’ve only been back in New York for a week and everyone I talk to asks me what my favorite country or place was. I cannot sit here and honestly say that any one place was my absolute favorite. Each place had its own quirks that I loved. I will say, however, that the places I enjoyed the most were ones that I knew little to nothing about before actually going to them. Myanmar and Ghana were not on my list of must visit places, but after traveling there, meeting such friendly people and truly experiencing something I’ve never experienced before, I would go back in a heartbeat and I fully intend to one day.
It feels very strange to be back home after traveling for such an extended period of time. It’s comforting to be able to eat whatever food I want and take naps and hang out with family and friends, but there are some things that feel very foreign to me. Driving a car instead of being the passenger in a taxi feels a little weird, but it’s great to have that sense of freedom again. Sometimes, I realize how many possessions I have that I absolutely don’t need but just really want. When your life is carried in a little backpack throughout one country, material things start to matter less and less. I have seen so many things and have had so many realizations; the only way to do my experience justice is to think more critically, live my life differently and share my thoughts with other people.