On the Run

Let me start this first post the way I usually start writing my travel journals: by looking at my packed bags at the entrance of my house, ready to leave for the airport in a few hours, and thinking: ‘what the hell was I thinking?!’. Butterflies have taken my stomach hostage and the negative side of being an extremely organized person kicks in – my mind is exploding with all that can go wrong. As I am one of those persons to which life likes to play sadistic pranks and nothing ever goes well on a first attempt, I can only imagine what waits for me from the minute I get to the airport. 

I have came to realize that when you tell someone you are about to move to the other side of world alone, specially if you add that you are going to do an internship in a city recently destroyed by a earthquake, there are, virtually without exception, two possible reactions: those who assume a skeptical position and do not understand why you are doing it and those who light up their faces with a sincere smile on the prospect of such an adventure and say "go!".

So, the invariable question I get from skepticals is: why? They do so with a mist of shock and attempt to restore what must be a momentaneous deprivation of a sense of sanity on my part. I was asked this so many times that I developed a short and yet effective answer: simply because I can. Yes, such answer does not help to improve their assessment of my mental health but it is the most honest I can provide. 

My motto in life has always been that I might end up working in the local supermarket of my parent’s village but at the very least I will try and be who I want to be. I rather fail in my attempts to get where I want to go than to not try to get that at all.

So, that’s what I was thinking before the last minute panic invaded me. Truth is, I am about to board a flight to the most distant country on Earth from my own and I have no idea what lies ahead or what will I end up doing next. And believe me when I say this uncertainty scares the shit out of me. But I’ll be damned if I don’t face it straight up.

I will do my best to keep the blog active on a regular basis for the next six months. For now, wish me luck!