Julie

To the meaning of travel,

I have traveled to many places including other states and outside of the states. However, all were for family vacation, or robotics competitions. When I started at UW, I never thought of going studying abroad. It costed a lot of money and it would require the right timing to go and still complete my graduation requirements. The meaning of travel was a very simple one until today. Traveling with my family meant spending valuable family time outside of home and making memories. Traveling with my robotics team in high school was to have fun, make memories, forget about school, and win the competition. I never thought too deeply in the meaning of travel. I just found myself lucky to be able to go travel somewhere else a little far from home, do things out of the ordinary, and get away from the “real world”.

But this trip has allowed me to rethink the meaning of travel. I was aware of the purpose of this trip. But there was more meaning to this trip than what I had heard described in words. It was a lot about learning about myself, learning about others, learning about culture, learning about leadership and much more. I learned what it means to be passionate, what it means to make decisions, what it means to lead, or even a follower. This experience was a lot about observing and understanding my surroundings and acknowledging the differences I see from the place where I call home and where I explored.

HPA has given me the opportunity to further appreciate the differences we all have and learn about who I am, what I can do as an individual, and create strong friendship bonds. I’m really grateful to have met everyone in HPA and I’m glad I have a new idea of what it means to travel.

Sincerely,

Julie