Ever since I was really young, I dreamed of traveling the world. And yes, although that does sound very cliché, it is the truth. I credit this wanderlust to a number of influential figures in my life as they have incessantly shared stories about traversing the world. And so, I was filled with genuine curiosity and wonder for the world outside of my home of 20 years (Boston).
I firmly believe that when there is a will, there is a way, so here I am in Singapore, reminiscing about the past four months and reflecting upon all my travels in Southeast Asia. It was clear from my first trip that traveling would make it difficult to achieve my goal: obtaining B+ or higher for every class, so I had to creatively juggle classes and traveling. In the end, it worked out well because I traveled to more than a handful of destinations and I managed to complete each course to the best of my ability.
I was lucky enough to travel to Phuket, Thailand, Bali and Bintan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and in a few days, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. And even with all this traveling, I am still amazed by how easy it is to move from point A to point B and as silly as it sounds, I am grateful for the invention of airplanes. I got to see some wonderful places and to indulge in Southeast Asia’s rich and vibrant culture.
Traveling really took experiential learning, one of the cornerstones of Northeastern University’s education, to the next level because I brought all the knowledge I acquired in the academic setting at SMU and applied it to my travels. My favorite destination would be Bali because I have become really interested in Indonesia and curious about this multi-ethnic, multi-racial country. Bali itself is a island in the Indonesian archipelago that is predominantly Hindu while the country itself is majority Muslim (nearly 90%). Since this is the case, it was an interesting contrast to Bintan. I saw offerings to the gods on every corner of the street and the offerings were composed of a variety of delicate flowers and greenery on a tiny basket fastened from what appeared to be leaves. I even had the opportunity to view a Balinese rendition of the Hindu poem Ramayana at the Uluwatu Temple. And yes, although Bali is a typical tourist spot in Southeast Asia for travellers from all the around the world, I think that visiting these places are beyond just indulging in paradise and taking Instagram worthy photographs. This trip to Bali became the springboard to my curiosity and I found myself reading more and more about Indonesia after traveling to just one of its 14,000 islands.
