One Month Mark
I can’t believe it’s already been one month! It honestly doesn’t feel like I’ve been gone that long (I should probably call my mom more). I’m currently in my third country, yet I’m lying here on my bed like I would be in Chicago. It’s funny how easy it is to forget that your traveling when you’re doing the exact same things that you’d be doing at home while you’re away. I’ve learned so much on this trip thus far and I’m genuinely elated about my next step.
I think every month I’m going to try to do a recap on the things that I think went well and the things that went poorly in the past month. I’m not preplanning this list, so I hope the good out weights the bad.
Good:
I’m still traveling! I honestly thought that I would’ve given up on this by now.
I’m VERY under budget, overall.
By in large, people have treated me very well and my lack of Japanese, Korean, or Chinese hasn’t been too much of a detriment for me.
The food is delicious and pretty cheap overall. Even Japan had cheap food!
I’m learning so much about the people everyplace I go and I think it’s beautiful how similar yet unique we all are.
I’m truly respecting how much African American culture has permeated EVERYWHERE. I knew we were out here, but good Lord! I remember walking through a night festival in Korea and forgetting that I wasn’t in Chicago looking at how people dress and our music that was blasting everywhere. It’s a bit staggering to realize that your culture has made it all the way over here. It’s just not something I normally thought about.
The hostels I’ve stayed in have been amazing! I’ve already met so many cool people from around the world and I can’t wait to reconnect with man of them.
Bad:
I lose things like crazy. I’ve already lost my wallet/phone, twice (I got it back because the Japanese are awesome). I also lost my favorite hoodie and I know its only a matter of time before my passport goes the way of the dodo. I working on a system.
I haven’t written nearly as much as I’d like. It isn’t for lack of content, I just find myself having issues “putting myself out there” so to speak. And considering only about 10 people read this blog (you all are awesome!), I don’t think I should be timid, yet here I am. One month in with only 5 or so posts, and no poems! I have so many poems yet nothing up! I suppose I need to work on my courage lol.
Korea. My time in Korea honestly wasn’t very good, and I’ve been thinking about how to write about it in a tactful manner. Everything I start writing just feels rather angry and immature, but there is more to come on this later.
I find myself using social media far too much for my liking. Perhaps I use it as a crutch to placate any feelings of loneliness that I may present itself, or maybe I just miss my friends, but I think my social media use it holding me back from being as fully engrossed in where ever I am at the time. I found myself down a rabbit hole following my current celebrity crush’s brother’s new baby drama (which is mad creepy as I type it out), and I almost missed my flight to Nanjing! Social media gives me an outlet to express myself, but it’s not the best for what I’m trying to do at the moment.
I don’t think I eat enough fruits and veggies. This may sound like a joke, but Korea and Japan have very large carb based diets, and all I ate was rice and bits of meat or fish. I literally think I’ve eaten more veggies in my 48 hours in China than I have during my entire time in Japan and Korea, combined.
I was sick. My entire hostel was sick. It was literally like the start of one of those virus zombie apocalypse movies. Could’ve been an epidemiologist’s dream.
There are things that I wish I could’ve done differently, and there are things that I wish I could do over. My plan for this trip was to basically have no plan and no itinerary for each city, and I see now that sometimes plans can be a good thing. Basically if I don’t make an itinerary for the day then I’m likely to not do very much. Perhaps I should make some sort of plan for this blog as well? Maybe that’ll help me write more. I’ve also put some thoughts into doing a podcast, but I think I need to walk before I run.
