Wanderlust; a strong desire to travel. It’s a feeling that always crosses my mind, but a feeling I haven’t been able to fully address. Traveling to different countries is one of those things everybody should do at least once in their lifetime. It opens up your eyes about events occurring in the world other than yours. It exposes you to a culture where the customs, food, language, and people are different. It lets you be carefree for a moment in your life, and everybody should be able to experience that. Although there are so many benefits in world traveling, it’s not as easy to drop everything you’re doing and go travel as it is in your head. But, with lots and lots of planning and research, I’m finally getting to experience this strong urge to travel somewhere new.
This summer I will be traveling to Madrid, Spain by myself as well as living in a hostel with 30 other people through a volunteer abroad program called International Volunteer HQ. IVHQ is an affordable volunteer abroad program that has different types of volunteer programs all over the world such as turtle conservation in Costa Rica or child care in Kenya.
My time in Spain will mostly be spent volunteering in a school teaching English to those who need additional educational support but are not able to afford it. Volunteers are required to work Monday-Friday for about 3 to 5 hours a day. Once my day is finished, I will be able to explore the city however I’d like. So far, I have a tour of Santiago Bernabéu Stadium planned along with a historical tour of the city. I’m also in the process of planning a weekend trip to Barcelona because, why not?
I’ve only been out of the country one time many years ago with my family. We went to Peru for 2 weeks and that was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. This time around, I will be 21, traveling to a different country by myself and living with strangers all doing the same thing as me. It’s nerve-wracking but so exciting. I feel like this is the perfect time to do something like this, because, at the end of this year, I’m graduating. The concept of graduating scares me, because, like many other college students, I have an idea about what I want to do, but I don’t know exactly what that will be yet.
I saw IVHQ as a unique opportunity travel abroad, yet still be able to do something meaningful during my time abroad. There are so many kinds of programs like this where the opportunity to do something much more telling and significant during one’s time abroad are available, and I encourage everybody to take advantage while the time is still right.