I am sitting here at an airport restaurant, waiting for my flight to board to JFK. We are on our way to the Dominican Republic, where we’ve been living for the past year. I keep thinking about how, exactly one year ago, I sold all of my possessions and moved across the world to a country I had never visited. I remember the nervousness in sending my acceptance e-mail, the trepidation of watching strangers buy and leave with my possessions at my “moving abroad sale,” the freedom in packing my entire life into one large and two small suitcases, and especially the sadness in leaving home for the very first time in 23 years.
Now, as I ready myself to board the next leg of this year’s journey, I am feeling quite different. Unlike last year, I am not excited with anticipation of a new country and culture. Instead, a part of me is dreading this culture and country that I’ve already gotten to know quite well. Don’t get me wrong – the DR is an amazing place. It’s not that I don’t appreciate it for its wonderfulness. It’s not even the fact that we were robbed at gunpoint or that the Dominican men can’t seem to control their impulsive cat calls. It’s just that I’m here and everyone and everything that I love is over there.
Nonetheless, I’m trying to enter into this year with a feeling of excitement, of bravery, of that I-can-conquer-the-world attitude that seems to slip away slowly, year by year. I will be 25 this year, but I’m just starting to experience life outside of the hobbit hole. I’m just beginning to see what things can be like when you step outside of what you know, leave what you love, and follow your dreams – whatever those dreams may be.
Over the next 11 months, I’ll be traveling throughout the Dominican Republic, writing it down, letting you live my experiences through my words. We’ll see what this adventure shapes into – it’s just you and me from here on out.
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