Reflections on Ramblings

So, this isn't actually a continuation of my Berlin blogs. But I have words that need saying today.

My beautiful little sister left early this morning for China. She is interning for an NGO in Southern China, and then spending a semester in a University "South of the Clouds." She will be gone for six months. This is her "year abroad." (You can check out her blog Mind the Hilly Road and read her lovely writing!)

Yes, she's been abroad before. She's been to China before, as a youngster in high school she picked herself up and was gone for three months. But, this is university, this is an internship, this is the product of her research, she found these programs on her own made them work, and off she goes. She is not a kid anymore, she is off on her own, to travel and work and be a student.

I am so proud of her, so happy for her, and I will miss her so much.

She was, reasonably, nervous yesterday. Asking "why would I want to leave all this",  family, friends, dogs, home. And it has made me think about my first time leaving.

I was running away. Away from college, away from life in the same city, and away from myself. I needed to go, to be somewhere else. But it's true. I am lucky enough to live a beautiful life where I am. I remember walking through security for that first flight on my own, away to foreign lands, away to the unexpected. I was terrified. Knee knocking, bone deep, petrified.

And I am SO PROUD that I did it.

It wasn't easy. Let no one tell you that it was. I was homesick, sick-sick, scared, away from everything I knew. There were times that I thought about giving up and going home.

But because I knew I could go home, because I knew that I was loved and supported no matter what my choices were, I was able to fight my demons, and stick it out. I learned a lot about myself that first year abroad, far more than I ever expected. I learned what I need, what I want, how I travel, my own little ticks and quirks that only come clear in strange and unexpected circumstances.

Going abroad, be it for two weeks or a year, it teaches you about the world, about different cultures and peoples, but most of all it teaches you about yourself.

I encourage everyone to go spend time abroad. Go study somewhere that isn't home. Leave your comfort zone even a little. Spend a month in London, six weeks in Tibet, a year in Ecuador, it doesn't matter. But GO.

I can only hope that my sister has as wonderful an experience as possible. I hope that she makes good friends, sees amazing things, learns pointless trivia about old statues, and remembers to call home every once in a while. I won't say I hope she has a perfect trip... things always go wrong. It is perfectly inevitable. She will get lost. She will get homesick. This is natural and normal. But I hope she learns how to deal with obstacles, how to be safe and strong, in spite of anything.

So, there you are. A bit rambly, but that's to be expected from me. I ramble, I roam, I wander.

Travel has made me who I am today.

So, who are you?