I didn’t grow up traveling.

People in my neighborhood didn’t “travel”. In fact, I’m not even sure if I even knew what traveling meant. Like, yes, I knew the WORD and that as a concept it existed, but…it was kind of like the idea of plasma or something. It was real, sure, but I didn’t actively ever think about it. I didn’t know anyone who “traveled,” let alone left the country. Barely anyone left Southern California.

However, I was an army brat. So I did MOVE AROUND, but that’s not the same thing as traveling. I didn’t have some kind of deep aching wanderlust to see new places and experience *~*new things*~*. Honestly, I was just trying to survive. We all were. Coupled with medical “quirks” since birth, financial uncertainty, and the obstacle course of being Black in America, my eyes were set on one thing. Tomorrow. That was as far as my planning went, and even that wasn’t guaranteed.

All I knew was surviving.

Yeah yeah, it’s not a rainbows and sunshine mindset, but that mindset did its purpose for me in that time of my life, and potentially if/when I need that mindset in the future. I mean…I survived, didn’t I? And for that, I am thankful, but when you are living in a survival mindset (either out of necessity or conditioning) it is hard to image a life outside of that – and that’s true for any mindset. So long story short, travel was never on my radar. And honestly, it would’ve stayed that way if I wasn’t gifted my first passport.

High School

Get this, there I was, a lil 16-year-old junior in high school. A high school, mind you, that technicallyyyy I shouldn’t have been at for reasons I will not spell out for the masses. But it was a high school that had opportunities that were not present at all high schools in the Southern California area. So me being a survivalist, I had to go for the opportunities if I could. I’d deal with the tomorrow if and when I got there.

I studied French all four years of high school. My second year, there was a class trip over spring break to Montreal, Canada (or was it Quebec? One of those). However, I knew my family would never be able to afford it, and we couldn’t, so I didn’t go on that trip. In my third year of French class, there was a class trip over spring break to Paris, France. Monetarily, nothing had changed for our family, so I stuffed the information flyer in my pocket and went home.

However, instead of walking in the door and heading straight to my room to play video games nonstop until 4am the next morning…one of my mom’s friends was visiting. She was a very nosy person (still is tbh) and literally DEMANDED that I tell her how my school day was. And unlike my mom, she didn’t take “fine” as an answer and pulled TEETH to get angsty teenage me into mentioning the France trip.

“Oh, you should go! France is great! That would be such a fun opportunity!”

I stared back at her.

She fished out her wallet, rambling on about how great baguettes and cheap wine was – not that I would be having any, she added when my mom gave her a look.

She quickly wrote a check, shoving it into my hands before my mom or I had a chance to protest. “Here, this will cover the passport. You’re smart though, I’m sure you’ll figure out the rest.”

“Smart” is arbitrary, but I WAS resourceful. I applied to over a dozen mini scholarships for highschoolers and ended up winning a total of $2,000, enough to cover the trip (with a little souvenir money) AND buy myself a suitcase. That was my first trip abroad, however, that one trip didn’t make me fall in love with traveling. I came back from France with a few fun stories and…went back to life. Business as usual.

University

Fast forward to university, which I attended on an academic scholarship. I was pursuing double major/double minor degrees in Pharmaceutical Science (minor in chemistry) and International Relations (minor in French). Part of my International Relations degree requirement was to study abroad in a country that spoke the language I wanted to pursue. I initially wanted to learn Korean and study there (thanks MBLAQ for that), but my university did not offer Korean courses and there was no way I would be able to self-teach myself to a level of proficiency to be able to take SCIENCE classes in South Korea, IN KOREAN.

So I went with French.

I studied abroad in Poitiers, France. For those not familiar with American colleges, the tuition costs are different depending if you are an “in-state” student, or “out of state” student (or an international student for that matter). As an out-of-state student, my tuition was $33,000-ish a year instead of like $9,000 for in-state. BUT, it was covered by scholarships. So while studying abroad is usually dramatically more expensive for in-state students, for me, it was still covered by my scholarship.

SO WORD TO OUT-OF-STATE STUDENTS: STUDYING ABROAD MIGHT BE MORE POSSIBLE THAN YOU THOUGHT!!

So I was off to France! I probably did a huge Eurotip and had the time of my life, right? Well, combined with multiple issues (my French bank account not getting set up properly, my passport getting stolen, not having enough money to buy a new passport, etcccc), I didn’t travel much once I was in Europe. Whomp whomppp.

Again, I returned home with a LOT of stories and it was a life changing experience for sure…but towards traveling. At least not all the way. So then what was the turning point?????? What was the trip that finally solidified travel as a permanent part of my life? Follow me on Instagram to find out!