Who will I be when I get back?
I have been fortunate to be able to travel the world, and each trip has enriched my life in one way or another. For most of my trips, preparation consists of throwing some clothes in a bag, grabbing my passport and credit cards, and rushing to the airport two hours before my flight. This trip is different because I am traveling for a longer period of time. This time I am going to study on the other side of the world and I don’t have the luxury of leaving everything to the last minute. I am traveling to Hong Kong to participate in an urban sustainability study. In one of the most densely populated cities in the world I will witness firsthand the challenges to keeping this metropolis thriving as the population continues to grow while resources diminish. The urban sustainability study will also be my last class before I earn my MPA (Master of Public Administration) degree, so preparation for this trip carries a little more gravity. Far more than a trip, these next few weeks will be a journey.
Being a science fiction and fantasy nerd, I love stories about time travel and alternate realities caused by someone going back in time and altering history. When I was 16 years old, I qualified to travel to England to attend Cambridge University’s International Summer School over the summer of my junior year in high school. My parents gave me the choice of help with a down payment on a car or attending the summer program in Cambridge. I chose the latter and that was a defining moment that had a profound impact on the course of my life. I returned from England newly aware of the greater world that existed outside my life in Southern California. I had a deeper appreciation of the value of higher education, and the power and responsibility that comes with that knowledge. I valued interaction with people from other countries and cultures and how that interaction enriched my life. I returned from that experience with the desire to continue to travel the world and to seize the educational opportunities that travel promises. In an indirect, nonetheless profound way, I am here today, in this moment, because of that experience in England.
Suppose some villain traveled from the future and convinced 16 year old me to choose the down payment on a car instead of going to England. Who would I be? What would I be doing now? While I am reasonably sure that I would be a decent person, I am certain that I would not be traveling to Hong Kong 27 years later and I don’t know that I’d be earning a Master’s Degree. My journey to Hong Kong, therefore, represents another defining moment in my life. It is another point that will impact the course of my life and my future. Much like my first study abroad, I have no doubt that I will return a wiser, more resourceful and more conscientious person than I am now.
I started arranging my clothing, accessories and equipment last Thursday – what I called “pre-packing.” On Friday, I headed up north to Cottonwood in the Verde Valley region of Arizona to visit my parents over the Memorial Day weekend. Over the next two days, I packed a little at a time, constantly checking and re-checking that I had included everything I needed.
On the drive back down to Phoenix, it suddenly occurred to me how different my life might be when I get back. This experience will likely compel me to re-evaluate many of the things I am currently accustomed to or take for granted. We discussed the level of culture shock and intensity of the course in our pre-departure meetings.
Understandably, both had a significant impact on former students, but I did not fully appreciate the gravity until that drive back down to Phoenix. That realization made me nervous and even a little sad. I don’t know exactly why I felt that way. The Urban Sustainability study is my final course before I earn my Master’s Degree. When I return to the United States there will be no more classes to take. The journey I started just over two years ago will be complete. So perhaps some of the gravity I’m feeling stems from accomplishing this endeavor. Perhaps it came from understanding the responsibilities that will come with the knowledge and experience I will acquire in Hong Kong.
If there is one thing in life that I am one hundred percent sure of, it’s that travel is an education in and of itself. Besides the act of physically going to another place, travel can be a spiritual and emotional journey that takes us beyond cultural, societal, ideological and emotional boundaries that we may not be aware of. Over the next two weeks, my fellow students at Arizona State University and City University and I will be attending lectures and taking field trips to various sites around Hong Kong that require sustainable solutions. I will detail not only the highlights of those activities but track my own personal and professional growth as a result of participating in this study. So as I prepare for my journey, I wonder more about the person I will be when I return.