How has travel left an impact on you?
What is your passion?
Well, being a high school senior who just went through the life-draining process of writing college supplements, supplements and more supplements, I just might faint if I try to write more about my passion. I’ll save that topic for later, maybe sometime in the summer. By then, I surely will have had a full recovery.
That being said, I am left with the question of what impact travelling has made on me. Well see, the problem is, I have not exactly traveled much. Actually, the first time I boarded a plane (an experience of which I have no recollection) was when I was two years old, and I have only flown one other time since then; it was to Texas. This is not to say that travelling within the United States is not “real” travelling, but you get what I mean. I am yet to, you know, see the world. I have never had that awkward local-annoyed-by-tourist moment, and the only landmarks I have seen in person are located on Capitol Hill in DC. Oh yeah, and the Statue of Liberty. (In case you were wondering, I live in New York City.)
I believe that the way one is affected by her travel depends on the destination of her trip. For instance, I know that one day, someday soon, I will travel to Nigeria. But I do not see travelling to Nigeria as a trip to explore a new culture, or experience a new setting, but more so as a journey to discover more about my family’s past. My parents were born and raised in the West African country; they migrated to the United States as young nurses. My older sister, who was born there as well, joined them after finishing high school. I anticipate that visiting Nigeria will lead to a lot of self-exploration and fostering new relationships with family members about whom I have only heard stories. I imagine walking through my mother’s hometown with an aunt, her telling me that, “this is the church where your mother sang on Sundays,” or “this is where your father played football [soccer] after school.” 20 dinners with cousins, 10 treks to the local market, and 70 photo albums later, I would have acquired a deeper understanding of my origins. As of now, I feel a bit detached from my heritage - a part of me I cannot fully comprehend without witnessing Nigeria firsthand.