If home is where the heart is but I am technically homeless, then what does that say about my heart?
“Why did you move abroad?” This is perhaps the most popular question that I have been asked since deciding to leave my life behind in the United States and move over 8,000 miles across the globe to The Kingdom of Thailand. That’s correct, this land is technically a kingdom. Pretty interesting, right?
It’s difficult to figure out where to begin when answering that question though because the desire itself was built up over time. I guess I’d summarize it by saying that it comes down to a strong craving for adventure. I want to see as much of the world and experience as much of it as I can while I’m young and full of life. Waiting until retirement is simply too risky because I might not make it there.
First off, let’s go back in time a couple decades or so to when I was a kid. Growing up, someone in my family had found this mysterious cup filled with foreign coins at my grandparents house. They were from all over the world and nobody knew where the cup had originally come
from; apparently it was just left behind from the previous owner of that home. I’d like to think there’s more to it than that; maybe the person was a spy of some sort. Either way, I was always curious about that cup, probably because it reminded me of treasure and whenever there is treasure, there is adventure buried somewhere in the mix.
Both my parents worked for the school system in my hometown. My father was a middle school woodshop teacher and my mother was the librarian so of course our house was filled with all sorts of books and magazines (most notably, National Geographic). I used to love coloring in blank maps as well. I don’t know exactly why, it was just fun. I’d ask my father to bring me home a few copies of blank maps and he’d always go way overboard with it by bringing home about three hundred at a time.
Besides the treasure cup, magazines and blank maps, being born into a family with six other siblings definitely played a role in where I’m at today. Coming into this world second to last out of five brothers and one sister meant that there was always something to do. It also meant that it was easy for me to wander off and get lost as you could imagine that my parents always had their hands full.
Then there are the army days. I served as a paratrooper in the army from 2011 until 2015 and during that time, I began to realize that I had a strong desire to not only travel abroad, but to live abroad. I got to see and do some awesome “stuff” throughout my time in service and being a paratrooper meant that my unit was often placed on standby in case there's a major issue that we
must respond to. One of the primary capabilities of an airborne unit is to be able to deploy anywhere in the world within just 18 hours or less so that notion alone had always excited me.
I exited the service in June of 2015 and began studying geography at Central Connecticut State University that fall. I immediately fell in love with the subject area upon taking an introductory course and went on to earn a bachelors in Geographic Information Science by the spring of 2019. I’d done some traveling throughout that time frame; Israel for five weeks, Canada a few times, and all throughout the U.S. but it’s never enough. “So it goes.”
My plan for after graduation was to live abroad for a few months then come back to the United States and attend grad school. Not only did I want to live abroad for a prolonged period of time, but I mainly wanted to visit a developing country. So, I decided to work as a volunteer at a research organization in Madagascar for about three months. In case you’re unaware, Madagascar is one of the top ten poorest countries in the world. I figured that by living in a place like that for an extended period, I would be exhausted and eager to come home by the end of the trip. I was completely wrong.
I didn’t want to come home at all. I wanted to either stay there or travel elsewhere. But going to grad school had been my plan for years at this point so I figured that I should at least apply and see what happens. A large part of me was praying that my application would get rejected because then I would have had a great excuse to get back out there. I had even bought a five pound study guide for the Graduate Record Examination and carried it with me in my bags the entire time I was there but opened it up maybe twice before telling myself that I’d have plenty of time to study once I got home… Nope, even though I had about a month to prepare for the exam upon my return, I still refused to study.
Of course I got in, and I was thrilled when I initially got the news because I had always wanted to go to this school. However, with COVID going at the time, everything was different from what I had expected due to the whole remote learning, social distancing and lockdown situation. I quickly learned that I did not want to be there so a little over one month into the program, I decided that I would withdraw and move abroad. This wasn’t an easy decision to make but it was necessary.
Though, at the time, I was incredibly disappointed in myself for deciding to withdraw from the program, it was an excellent decision looking back at it. Pride is one of the most bitter pills you can swallow but it’ll help you as long as you let it. I wouldn’t be where I am right now that’s for sure.
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