Give Into Your Wanderlust by Devin

Give Into Your Wanderlust by Devin - March 2016 Scholarship Essay

Wanderlust. Merriam Webster defines it as a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about. The definition suggests that this desire is programed into our souls and native to our characters. However, so many college students and young adults are putting off travel and exploration in sacrifice to their other goals. Travel is replaced with lust for financial security, the best internship, and the job in the corner office. This was my thinking about travel before I was tricked by my friend into a study abroad program that was the best educational experience of my four years in college.
I believed that travel was something that could wait, and it was not as important as my goal of completing my degree in the four years I was allotted. Once I had figured out my path in college, I did not want to deviate for fear of throwing off my four year plan. My parents asked me about study abroad, and I told them that it was not in my plan and I did not have time for it. I said the same thing to everyone who asked me about it, even my advisor who should know better than anyone that I did have time. No one ever questioned me on my unfounded statements, until my roommate brought a program to me that seemed too good to be true. It was a program within my college designed to benefit the people in my major. I gave her the same spiel: “I can’t”, “it won’t work”, “I’ll fall behind”, but she called my bluff. The truth was that I was not worried about falling behind or not graduating on time, I was scared of the unknown that laid out there in the world where I was on my own for the first time in countries where I did not know the language or customs. What if I got hurt? What if I got lost? What if? What if? What if? But somewhere along the way I stepped out of the haze of doubt and questions and made the decision to give into my wanderlust and follow the desire that was innate to my being.
When my program finished, I was so sad. I was upset that I would no longer have crazy experiences with the same people. I wanted to scoop up all of the people I loved and put them on a plane so we could go back and have more adventures. I found truth in a lot of my fears though, I was scared at some points (paragliding in Switzerland), I did get lost (I found the best pizza place this way), and I was exhausted (I experienced seven countries in six weeks, who wouldn’t be tired?). All of these adventures led to an experience that could not be found going to a university in the same state where I grew up. I would not have been able to learn about the history and architecture of the Florence Duomo, while also witnessing its pure splendor, if I had not had the opportunity to learn in Italy. I would not have been able to learn about the religion of the Ancient Romans and fully understand if I did not see the Pantheon up close. There are so many more memories that I would not have been able to make if I had let my fear replace my wanderlust.
There are so many students that are like me in colleges and university around the United States. We say to ourselves that the time will come but it’s not now. We push it off and push it off until we no longer have the college environment and help to travel and learn in a new place. I have always believed that travel broadens your mind and pushes you out of your comfort zone. Through travel you are able to take a walk in someone else’s shoes and gain a world perspective that makes you have more conviction in your own beliefs. College is the perfect time to take on this adventure, and I would not have minded having the requirement of a study abroad education to force me out of my what ifs and onto a plane. Maybe I would not have waited until the last moment to have an adventure that will benefit me in every way for years to come. I am not scared to walk out on my own anymore because I already have, and I came out the other side a better person because of it. Study abroad education should be required throughout the university and college system. I know it made me a better person, so why should we not give that opportunity to other scared college kids?