Chapter 30
Summer Break 2014
Pictures don’t do it
justice
For the longest time I have listened to other people tell me
about their travels around the world. Listening to their stories and looking at
their pictures made me want to travel myself. During my sophomore year when I
was making my “I will” list I decided I was tired of hearing, “Oh it is so
beautiful, or that place isn’t what I thought it was going to be.” I wanted to
travel. I wanted to see for myself this world that I was missing.
In preparation for my goals of traveling I had to get my
passport, which I advise you to get as soon as possible. The first place that
was on my travel bucket list was Europe, and it just so happened that my
roommate from my sophomore year lived just outside London. Throughout our
entire sophomore year I told him that I would be visiting him, but I don’t
think he actually believed me until I hopped on the plane.
The entire experience was new to me. I had never ridden on a
plane by myself, experienced jet lag, I had never traveled east of North
Carolina, and this was my first trip out of the US. However, that all changed
on May 12 when I boarded the US Air flight to Heathrow Airport in England.
I had planned out the trip months before so I could make my
2 week stay as beneficial as possible. During the first week I toured most of
Southwest England, including Weybridge, Windsor, Wimbledon, Bath, Stonehenge
and towards the end of the week we did an entire walking tour of London. The
second week involved my roommate and I doing a shadowing at a bank his father
worked at. The shadowing involved us commuting into work by train and the tube,
which took about an hour. It involved us working with different departments,
shadowing meetings, and also they gave me a mock interview. Even though I don’t
think I want to enter the field of banking, I loved the entire experience and
the international internship experience will definitely be something I can talk
about in future interviews.
When I returned home I kept getting asked the same question,
“What was your favorite part?” To this day I still don’t know the answer
because I enjoyed the entire trip. I loved every trip we took, even the
smallest ones to Tesco (grocery store, similar to Wal-Mart). Each place we went
I was amazed by the beauty. Then the thought came, “I have to keep traveling, I
am missing so much.” Don’t get me wrong, the sunset in Chapel Hill is
beautiful, but the sunset in London is spectacular.
By the end of my stay I began to understand the British
accents better and I was even using some of the lingo (Tube for subway, Toilet
for bathroom). I found that the food wasn’t much different than America other
than the fact that they don’t use any high fructose corn syrup, which explained
the skinner people. The reason the trip was such a success was due to getting
to stay with my roommate’s family. Without them I would’ve been lost, hungry,
and probably broke. On one of the last days I told them that I couldn’t have
imagined my first trip abroad being any better than it actually turned out.
I have been back in the states for about two weeks and my
summer is just getting started. Soon I will head back to Chapel Hill to work my
second summer at Roy Williams Basketball camp. Then I have a few trips planned
to the beach, and a trip to California, where I have always wanted to visit.
My advice to you, wherever you are in life, college,
married, or a senior citizen, don’t ever stop traveling and seeing the world.
Pictures don’t do it justice. Pictures can’t do it justice. For years I looked
and heard about traveling, but not until this past year did I truly experience
the first person view. And yes, it’s much better.
