I always wanted to have an adventure like Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat Pray Love. I can watch Eat Pray Love six hundred times without boredom but with sheer amazement. The idea of her leaving everything behind,unsure of what she would find,and unknowingly growing in ways she never imagined, are what intrigued me about her adventure. I wanted that, SO BAD. So here I am. Trying to soak in the fact that I have signed a year of my life over in a country completely different from my own.I don't even fuckin' speak Mandarin!The idea of leaving everyone and everything you know to risk it all and go somewhere you know nothing about is Scary as fuck. I won't even sugar coat it.I was hesitant for a long time.I had convinced a lot of my Spelman sisters and even my own brother to go live abroad. For some reason, I could not convince myself. I would turn down contracts and apply for other jobs in Atlanta,hoping to stay. I was so afraid, that I even began to purposely sabotage myself. With everything going on at home simultaneously, I didn't want to leave my family and I most certainly didn't want to leave my boyfriend. I didn't want my "perfect" world to change. My boyfriend caught wind of this and set me straight. He told me, "Change is inevitable,the more you don't want things to change the more they will."He also told me I'm twenty-two and asked when would this opportunity ever happen again?The Aries in me would never admit this to him, but he was so right. I have thirty years to work 9-5, when will this opportunity ever happen again? I sent my contract in that night. I calmed my nerves/anxiety by watching Eat.Pray.Love and a personal bottle of Jack(Don't tell my mom).
Honestly, I have no real expectation about my year abroad.I always go into it expecting the unexpected.This typically results in the BEST Adventures.The only real expectations I have are to 1) EAT EAT EAT 2)Travel 3) My life to Change (financially,mentally,etc.). My only hopes in this year abroad are to create a blog that inspires others to travel,connect with other black women travelers in China,make an impact on the Dalian community, and to leave China a better person.
I am excited,nervous,and scared but I look forward to creating my own EAT.PRAY.LOVE.It'll probably be more like "EAT.BE AWKWARD.EAT." LOL.
Honestly, I have no real expectation about my year abroad.I always go into it expecting the unexpected.This typically results in the BEST Adventures.The only real expectations I have are to 1) EAT EAT EAT 2)Travel 3) My life to Change (financially,mentally,etc.). My only hopes in this year abroad are to create a blog that inspires others to travel,connect with other black women travelers in China,make an impact on the Dalian community, and to leave China a better person.
I am excited,nervous,and scared but I look forward to creating my own EAT.PRAY.LOVE.It'll probably be more like "EAT.BE AWKWARD.EAT." LOL.