Time To Go To Indo–Wait, Singapore?

Heelllloooo, everybody; I’m officially back (:

While I have been updating my UNC blog pretty regularly (as it is a requirement of my participation in the Global Gap Year Fellowship), I sort of neglected my personal blog. But no longer! In order to catch everyone up to speed, I’ll outline what my last month in Sri Lanka looked like:

Basically, same old same old. It consisted of going to the beach on the weekends, hanging out with the volunteers throughout the week, and getting as much work in at the orphanage as possible. Aside from the bucket of tears I cried when leaving the orphanage, it really was a great send off. Sri Lanka holds a special place in my heart and it will always remain in my memory surrounded by a unique love and fondness. I have a great appreciation for the island country and I’m so glad I was able to begin my year there. In my last few weeks though I did run into some troubles. Initially, I was supposed to get the visa I needed for Indonesia in Sri Lanka, but when I visited the Indonesian embassy there, I found out that I wouldn’t be able to apply for it there.

Panic.

I started brainstorming every possible option I could come up with to fix this problem. The solution? Take a spontaneous trip to Singapore because why not? #gapyear

A tip for all travelers– If you ever need to get something done, do it in Singapore (Or make sure you have everything you possibly need before leaving your country like I neglected to do, lol). I went to the Indonesian embassy in Singapore and was done in under 20 min which is totally unheard of. All the worrying that came with needing to get my visa vanished instantly; I really lucked out and am grateful for it.

But seriously– Singapore. If that name conjures images of an uber efficient and clean society with malls at every corner and busy people dressed in chic clothing, you’d be 100 % correct.

I was housed on the resort world island of Sentosa (I’m not kidding, it’s actually a resort world. The small island in the south of Singapore is home to Universal Studios, a water park, and a plethora of other attractions) by an awesome friend of my sister’s and her roommates. This was the view from the balcony:

Aaaannnddd this was the pool area:

You would think that I spent an entire week lounging there right? Absolutely… NOT. Who needs a pool when I had entire city/country to explore? Singapore, true to its efficiency, has an incredible MRT train that runs along the entire country; very similar to the NYC subway station but waayyyy more organized and cleaner. With my visa out of the way, I had a week to use this train system and explore areas like the hustling and bustling Chinatown, the shopping center heavy Orchard street, decked out with impressive Christmas lights, the ever crowded Little India and adjacent Arab street, home to some of Singapore’s rare graffiti (though, can’t really call it graffiti since it needed to be approved before being painted), and my favorite, the Botanic Gardens, where I spent a wonderfully peaceful afternoon strolling, reading, and generally sweating from the intense heat.

While Singapore impressed me with its efficiency and cleanliness, I can’t say it appealed to me very much. I’m grateful I was able to explore it, and I can attest that the food there is FANTASTIC, but aside from that, it lacked a certain charm for me. That may be due to the fact that I was incomprehensibly overwhelmed to be back in such an organized and “advanced” society. I was back to paying $10 for a meal, which made me think how I could eat three meals a day plus stay in an accommodation for that same price in Sri Lanka. On the MRT train, everyone’s features had that fluorescent glow produced by the proximity of their phone to their faces. No one stopped for anything; there was always constant movement, constant rushing. It was a harsh reality compared to the easy and slow paced life style of Sri Lanka.

And dare I say it? People actually followed the rules there– and it was boring. No more swerving cars, no more jaywalking, no more bargaining for food or items, no more free tuk tuk rides because someone was feeling generous, no more loud competitions between monasteries or mosques to have their prayers heard across the neighborhoods.

This realization struck me because a mere three months ago, I was living and thriving in such a society. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t exactly condone this lifestyle–I grew up in it– but living in Sri Lanka made me more aware of what is necessary in life and what isn’t. I’m starting to place importance in different things where before I was tied up by the material. Cliche, I know, but everyone should experience that realization at some point, right?

Overall, I’m incredibly grateful that everything ran so smoothly and that I was able to explore another part of the world. It also gave me the chance to meet up with a past volunteer I met in Sri Lanka as well as meet new people who I had an absolute blast with. In the end, it’s all about human interaction and the connections you make.

And I’m also grateful to be able to say that I have arrived in Bali safely and I’m ready to begin another chapter of my gap year. More posts to come soon; hope everyone back home is doing well! (:

The Origin of Serendipity

The English language is not commonly renowned for its beauty– that compliment is usually saved for Spanish or French or Italian. While those languages hold charm and eloquence, English can be harsh and clunky if not manipulated with the utmost care. There are, however, choice words that help English hold it head high, and one of those is serendipity.

Serendipity. A word not usually used in speech, but when it does poke its way into a conversation or a poem or a story, magic envelops the moment. You get a warm feeling inside as the meaning of the word trickles into your conscious: “An aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.” In other words, as Sara from the beloved movie Serendipity says, “a fortunate accident.” Just think of the possibilities! Rarely can one word stand the challenge of epitomizing a perfect idea, but serendipity does the job flawlessly. The word itself, as you say it, dances on your tongue. People describe it as one of their favorite words, sighing contently as it brings up nostalgic memories and the urge to create more.

So it is no coincidence, or maybe entirely, that I discovered the origin of serendipity in a book about Sri Lanka.

Yup. Sri Lanka. The little island on the southern tip of India that many people cannot place on a map. The island where I will be spending the first three months of my gap year.

The word holds its roots on the island. It was coined by a British writer/politician named Horace Walpole in the mid 1700s as an allusion to Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka. The meaning of the word was inspired by a Sri Lankan fairy tale called The Three Princes of Serendip. While I was unable to find an original copy of the fairy tale, I did find an article by a man who summarizes it quite well, which you can read here in two parts (The summary starts after about the 15th paragraph).

Basically, the story talks about a king who sends his three sons on a journey to prove their sagacity and intelligence, and on the way, the princes make incredible discoveries on accident, discoveries they hadn’t set out to find. That is how one of the most favored and magical words of the English language was born.

It’s interesting how two things as unexpected as Sri Lanka and serendipity can be related. Most people don’t have any tie whatsoever to the little Asian island–now they do.

As for me, I was delighted to stumble upon the origin of the word. Serendipity plays largely into the theme of my blog, the desire to persuade one’s fate. I believe that there are pivotal things in our lives we can control– our attitude, our actions and reactions to circumstances, and so forth. And then there is fate. Those things we can’t control that find their way into the cracks and crevices of our lives. Those fortunate, and sometimes not so fortunate, accidents.

I had an enlightening conversation with my brother weeks ago about fate and decision making. He helped me understand the realization that everything happens because of the decisions everyone in life makes. We live our lives the way we do today because of the million upon millions of decisions every single person throughout history has ever made.  That made me begin to question if fate was actually real, or if life was simply circumstance. My brother believes in circumstance, in chance, and it’s incredible. I tried going down that route, but there was just something missing for me. Some things in life are so spectacular, whether in their simplicity or complexity, that I can’t help but think there is something more.

Fate, for me, is the culmination of everyone else’s decisions and how they impact my life. An adorable old woman compliments me at Goodwill, saying I have a great figure, and it makes me laugh and feel less self-conscious about my shorts which I could have sworn an hour ago made my thighs look a little thick. She was fate intervening in my life. I give a homeless man $20 and he buys himself a meal and doesn’t go hungry for a night. I was fate intervening in his life. In the end, yes, that old woman made a decision. I made a decision. But we persuaded fate for those people. We made the conscious decision to impact someone’s life forever without them having any control over it. That, in itself, is magical. Actually, it’s more than magic–we wish for super powers not realizing we already posses them.

So there it is. Serendipity. A tie to Sri Lanka, a testament to my gap year. Is my gap year serendipity? No, I made the conscious decision to apply to that. That was me persuading my own fate. But maybe serendipity was me opening the Chapel Hill brochure all those months ago and seeing the article about it, the article that so many of my classmates swear they never saw. The article that motivated me to pursue a life changing experience. Motivation that stemmed from growing up in a foreign family, from countless moves, from decisions I had no say in, and yet, that guided me to where I am today, on the brink of an incredible adventure.

So, here’s to the serendipity that awaits me starting September 5th, to the fate I will hopefully be persuading endlessly. I know Sri Lanka holds more treasures than I am able to imagine and I can’t wait to stumble upon them, accident or no accident.

La Biblioteca

Today, I found myself going somewhere I hadn’t gone in years.

The library.

Now, I don’t count my high school’s library considering I’d go in there for class and such. I count going to a library outside of school out of my own free will. And it happened. Today.

I was in the hunt for books about Sri Lanka and Indonesia. I’d done enough research on the internet and I decided I wanted actual books about the countries, figuring it would be a nice change. Now, I used to go to the library as a kid all the time. The library was my place.

So, it was a surprise to find that once I walked through the doors, I felt like a complete stranger. This feeling was solidified by the woman at the front desk who gingerly told me that what I was searching for were travel books and that they’d be found in the 900s. Only after looking at her blankly did she point and say “upstairs.” I felt like an airhead. For someone who loves books as much as I do, how could I feel like a stranger? I thought I’d feel at home among the shelves that held thousands of pages, but that wasn’t the case. It was sad, really. I realized what a simple and yet, in my opinion, underused resource the library is. Sure, there were plenty of people there. But I found myself alone wandering through the book cases. All the teenagers and adults were sitting at tables, absorbed by their computers or studying. None of them even noticed me walking around.

After searching through the sections the woman had directed me to, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the books I’d found, so I took to the computers. I searched some keywords and wrote down two codes– J959.8 for a book about Indonesia and J954.93 for a book about Sri Lanka. The numbers were close to where I had been searching before, so I went back, but I didn’t find the books. Finally, I went to another lady and showed her the codes. This woman nicely pointed out that the “J” in front of the numbers stood for “juvenile” and that I’d find the books in the kids’ section downstairs. Wow. Duh.

And so, my search led me back to the place I used to go to all the time as a child. I felt a little self conscious among the children and their parents, but at the same time, it felt more familiar. It was refreshing to see moms and dads with their kids sitting and reading at the tables. I followed the decimal system and was delighted to find the books I’d been searching for. They were colorful and some were published by good ol’ Scholastic. They were, yes, exactly the kind of research books everyone used in elementary school when given a project about a country. I hauled over a total of eight books to one of the kids tables and sat down to read.

Here are some interesting things I discovered while skimming through the books:

Indonesia

1. Indonesia is home to the world’s largest and smelliest flower, the Titan Arum, which looks like this:

What does it smell like you ask? Rotting mammal corpses. Lovely.

2. Selemat jalan! means “Happy traveling!” in Bahasa Indonesian, which is the national language. The language itself has no genders, words sound as they are spelled, and they use the Roman alphabet.

3. Mt. Krakatoa came up quite a few times as there was a tragic eruption in 1883 that killed many people. Consequently, I’m not proud to say that when I first read Krakatoa, that incident didn’t come to mind. Instead, this did:

For those of you who remember this episode, you know it was one of the best Spongebob episodes ever created. Every time Squidward screamed “KRAKATOOAAA,” he would erupt. Is it insensitive to laugh about it?

4. THIS EXISTS IN INDONESIA:

IT’S A MOUSE DEER. WHAT. HAHAHAHAHAHA WHAAAATTT?!?! I had myself a good, hardy laugh that drew the attention of a few parents; I couldn’t help it. I’ve officially made it my mission to find one of these things in the wild in Indonesia (I’m still laughing).

Sri Lanka

1. The “Head Woggle” = to say ‘yes,’ the head moves from side to side with a down-up, not a sharp left-right, movement.

If someone wants to explain to me that motion, or better yet, show me, that would be much appreciated.

2. Galle (where I’ll be living) is on the southwestern coast and is a natural harbor. Closenburg, which is in Galle, is apparently a “swimmer’s paradise.” (omg yes yes yeeeessss)

3. There’s a traditional game where two players sit astride a pole, with one hand behind their backs, and swing at each other with pillows until one of the players is knocked off. Aka, a traditional game in Sri Lanka is an intense pillow fight. Hell yes.

4. Elephants are an abundance in Sir Lanka:

Look at them, just lounging in the water. Definitely plan on visiting an orphanage and hopefully riding an elephant!

All right, so I realize what I posted isn’t the most helpful information, but I do plan on (and am excited to) delve deeper into these books. After the quick skim, I left the kids’ section with the eight books in tow and headed to the check out desk. While I was in line, I panicked slightly– how many books was I allowed to check out at once? I tentatively asked the lady at the front desk and she answered “99.” It took me a second, and then I laughed and she laughed too. It got slightly more awkward when I tried to use the self check out to find that my library card had expired. Looooool.

Finally, I made my way out with my arms full of books and a goofy smile on my face. Sure, my experience at the library was interesting, but I enjoyed it none the less. I promised I’d be back soon enough (as if I have a choice– I have to return my books before  July 11th, if not they’re overdue!) and made my way to my car, excited and fulfilled.

The eight books I checked out

Confession: Something I’ve thought about before and fantasize about. How amazing would it be to be minding your own business at the library, looking through some books, to have a (hopefully cute) guy come up to you and strike up a conversation about what you’re looking at? You could talk about the latest books you two have read, discuss favorite authors, he could even recommend a book and cleverly write his number on your check out receipt… WHY CAN’T WOMEN GET PICKED UP AT LIBRARIES. OR BOOKSTORES. SCREW THE MARTINI, BUY ME A BOOK. Get me drunk off your knowledge, I’ll go with you much more willingly. Ugh.

Now, that. That would be sexy. Hey, a girl can dream.

 

Graduation, the World Cup, and Some Backpacks

On  June 12th, last Thursday, two events occurred, one more important than the other.

1. My high school graduation

2. The start of the World Cup in Brasil

Take a guess which one was the more important one..

Graduation

Being done with high school is surreal; I watched my two older siblings go through it and I thought “Ha, that’s so far away for me.” And yet, as it always does, the day arrived, and every day it hits me a little bit more. Gone forever is the same monotonous routine and I couldn’t be happier. The minute I threw my cap in the air when our principal dubbed us graduates and I hugged my friends around me, I felt relief and a certain freedom. It also marks the transition into my “limbo” aka the few months before I embark on my gap year. This limbo will be consumed by work, pre-departure shenanigans, and of course, the glorious World Cup.

The World Cup

4 YEARS I (AND THE REST OF THE WORLD) HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS AND IT’S FINALLY HERE!!!! Do I consider it sad that I was more excited for the start of an international futbol tournament than my own high school graduation? Not at all. I consider it almost an honor to graduate on the same day as the start of the World Cup, and what a World Cup it has been so far! Netherlands with the 5-1 revenge, Costa Rica with the impressive upset, Switzerland with the last second goal… There’s nothing that gets me going like futbol (my incessant and surely annoying twitter commentary of almost every game is proof of this). I don’t understand how people, especially in the US, don’t get excited over the World’s favorite sport. The atmosphere, the feeling of patriotism, the indescribable joy of your team scoring a goal… If anything, the players themselves! I mean, sure Spain got CRUSHED by the Netherlands, but man did they look good doing so. Have you seen their players?! Seriously, check out this glorious Buzzfeed post, I assure you it will not be disappointing.

Some (awesome) Backpacks

Perk of graduating: family coming to visit. Even better perk? Having the coolest older siblings who consequently have jobs and love to travel as much as I do. That fabulous perk got me these beauties:

65 L Osprey Backpack

20 L Camelbak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To say the least, I was excited:

Creds to my sister for snapping this!

 

Now, I am completely new to these types of backpacks, so another thank you to my siblings who popped my REI cherry and helped me look like I slightly knew what I was doing in that store. My gap year keeps becoming more and more real, and these backpacks have just cemented the idea that I will be living out of a cumulative 85 L of space. Kind of a downsize.

Today, I decided to take a little adventure with the Camelbak (and my Argentina jersey, of course), which will serve as my day pack, to get a feel for it. I filled it up with an excessive amount of books, clothing, a pair of shoes, and a rubix cube (?), along with filling up the water pouch, and set off into the woods by my house. My adventure consisted of an impressive amount of indescreet selfies:

The family that was so intrigued by their swimming dog they didn’t even hear me sneak up. Is that weird?

Cute selfie with the couple walking through the woods

Kudos to this couple that just carried their kids on their backs

A few things I learned on this walk:

1. Snakes are creepily mesmerizing and I still become paralyzed with shock every time I come across one.
2. Squirrels really don’t like to take selfies.
3. WHY WOULD I LEAVE MY HOUSE WITHOUT A HAIR-TIE IN 90 DEGREE WEATHER (aka definitely something to remember when I’m abroad)
4. Just because I have a Camelbak with a pouch filled with water and it’s so cool and convenient to have a little hose that you suck on to get the water does NOT mean I need to drink all the water right away. Uuff, too much liquid.

In conclusion, the backpack is awesome. I walked about two miles and the weight never became a burden. This is due to the fact that when I wear the pack, instead of baring the weight on my shoulders and back, it sits on my hips. Whoever designed these packs–GENIUS. Why aren’t school backpacks made in this way?! I’ve been carrying books wrong my entire life. Sheesh.

So. Major shout out to my siblings, I love them way too much. And now I’m currently watching Messi warm up on the field in Brasil. Kickoff time is so close and I am SO READY.

VAMOOOOOSSSSS AL ALBICELESTE!

 

P.s.– Good luck to Lee Mook, one of my fellow Gappers who started his gap year T O D A Y. He’s on his way to Nicaragua as we speak to work on solar powered water distillers. Check out his blog on the “Fellowship + the Gappers” tab!

P.p.s– Happy Father’s Day everyone (:

What is happiness?

I have no intention to answer that question.

But, I did just spend the past two days mulling it over in my brain; that included reading up on some Albert Camus (I recommend his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” if you’re up for some deep thinking) and watching the documentary “Happy” (on Netflix, by the way).

Camus, in an article I read (which you can read here), said: “Those who prefer their principles over their happiness, they refuse to be happy outside the conditions they seem to have attached to their happiness. If they are happy by surprise, they find themselves disabled, unhappy to be deprived of their unhappiness.”

Unhappy to be deprived of their unhappiness? Whaaat.

Well, think about it. How often do we create structures of what happiness should be and look like? I know I’m guilty of it. I’ll think, “If I can get an A on this test, I will be happy.” It seems trivial, I know, but happiness shouldn’t be treated like a destination. There is no algorithm for happiness, no step by step process to reach it. Sometimes, we are so preoccupied in finding and fulfilling those steps that we become distracted. So, when we do find happiness, we reject it because we do not recognize it for what it is. We confine ourselves to what we believe happiness should be, instead of accepting it for what it is.

One of the psychologists who spoke in the documentary said that happiness, like being able to surf or ride a unicycle, is a skill. He also mentioned that happy people aren’t happy all the time (duh), but that they are better at dealing with, and getting over, sadness (Oohhh).

Get this: Other psychologists in the documentary did some research and compiled it into this nifty little pie graph.

They found that 50% of our happiness comes from a set point–it’s usually always there–that we obtain from our genes (high five, mom and dad). Now, what is a leeeetttllleee shocking, is that our circumstances only contribute to 10% of our happiness (!!!). Kind of hard to believe, right? The other 40% is all up to intentional activity–the things we choose to do in our every day lives, our attitude towards it, etc. Now, that’s a little mind blowing.

Some clarification: I’m not trying to spit out the cliched “money can’t buy you happiness” crap, because that’s not the point. What I find interesting is how much power we hold in our happiness.

And so with that, I thought to myself, am I happy? And, I’m satisfied to say that, yeah, I really think I am. My life is at an incredible place right now. I have so many things to look forward too in the future, as well as things I’m enjoying now in the present. I’m not thinking “Oh, when I leave for my gap year, that’s when I’ll be happy.” Nope. The cultivation of my happiness starts now.

And honestly, I can’t wait to see how it changes and diverges in the future. I realize that I’ll have tough times ahead. Everything isn’t always going to be rainbows and butterflies, but compromise (10 points if you got that reference).

All I know is that I’ll get through those times, and hopefully, be a better, more satisfied person in the end.