I wrote the following post about two weeks ago as part of an application to be a study abroad blogger. They asked for a pre-departure post, so I figured it would be a perfect, first post for my own blog here. This post gives some of the backstory that led to this moment of me leaving (today!) to study abroad this semester at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. This is just the first (I hope) of many posts, stories, pictures, videos and more as I share my experience with anyone interested in my new journey. Soon after arrival on Monday night, I plan to post about all the ‘adventures’ (to put it nicely) that inevitably come along with almost two days of straight traveling.

But for now, without further ado…..

I roll over in bed. 5:30AM? Why am I up so early? As I try to remember why I left my unconscious state, it hits me: I was dreaming about my semester abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. Though still over 13 days to departure, I now find myself wide awake with my heart racing, responding to the rush of adrenaline now coursing through my blood: I’m not getting anymore sleep. My brain kicks into overdrive, running through the seemingly endless checklist to be done before this fortnight ends. What was I thinking? To go half way around the world for over 4 months? In that moment (as my neurons are now almost synapsing at normal speeds), I remember all the travel I have done before: the beaches of Spain, the ghettos of Mexico, the markets of Morocco, the taxis of South Korea, the mountains of Mongolia. As I reminisce, I realize this feeling isn’t new, it’s the same excitement I had on all those trips as well. It just has a different nuance this time, probably because of the context, so let me explain.

Looking towards a career in medicine and public health, I am preparing to embark on a trip that could expose me to what I hope to do for the rest of my life: using the contrivances of medicine to help those in need all around the world. Grant it, as a study abroad program, the “study” part (and implied “fun” part) is what will be the majority of the semester. The service opportunities like volunteering at the Red Cross Children’s hospital or working on AIDS/HIV projects is what I really look forward to the most. Though quite an extended time away from home (and quite a lot of money to be spent) for these relatively small moments in time, these are the hidden diamonds I seek, the entirety of the trip culminating at those fleeting instances that permanently affect my career choices, permanently transform my life.

Then again, if there is one thing I have learned from my previous travels, the name of the game is flexibility. As an individual placed in an environment foreign to his own, the best he can hope for is an indelible experience from the time he arrives in that environment to the time he departs from it. What that experience may be is totally left to the fickle variables of happenstance, changing as frequently as the currency exchange rates. With that reminder, my state of excitement gives way to a relaxed calm, this odd assurance within the unknowingness. Nonetheless, the dreams and checklist proceed assuming that predictability is tantamount to pliancy.  But just maybe, at least once while I am there, the variables will align in such a way that I may be gifted with a chance to behold a treasure, that fleeting treasure of hidden diamonds.