June 5, 2017, 9:59 p.m.
» CommentsStranger in a strange land
by: Boris
Queenstown, New Zealand
Today I am writing in the early afternoon from a Starbucks. I am spending the day drinking coffee and catching up on work.
I have been traveling the last two weeks, taken four flights, and explored two countries. This is only about the halfway point as some of you know. One of the reasons for my travels is to have fun and relax, but one does not go off for slightly over a month simply for that. Traveling alone and seeing the other side of the world was always meant to be a method for self-reflection and growth. A lengthy escape from the reality back home, which is that I am exhausted from the hard work of the last six years and I am still working out what I will do next, and most importantly, where I want to be in five (ten?) years.
Living out of a suitcase, sharing an apartment with various strangers, figuring out how to get to places, keeping an eye on the finances, making sure all my affairs are settled back in the states -- it is tiresome. I am accustomed to the convenience and familiarity of home, and it is only now that I truly appreciate the homesickness that expats often speak about. But on this journey so far I have learned a great deal about myself, good and bad, and I continue to learn.
One piece of advice for everyone, coming from some thoughts I had earlier today. It is important to do what you are passionate about, BUT do not allow your inclinations to box you into a corner. Passion requires emotion, and too much of that can be just as damaging as too little. It is important to embrace contrast and contradiction and find pleasure in the surprises and mysteries that life inevitably throws your way.
I don't wish to write down the precise details of all my introspections on this blog, at least not today, but I am open to a long philosophical conversation and many laughs with friends when I return. Let's get a coffee, a tea, a glass of wine, find a comfortable couch and chat for a while. I would offer my home but I will be living with my parents. Perhaps a comfortable, relatively quiet place in the city. We shall see! But I look forward to seeing all my friends when I return.
HAWAII
NEW ZEALAND (NORTH)
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