I grew up in a small town in middle America. Oklahoma was a state with a population of merely 3.9 million people. The two most exciting things were American football and going to church. That was the kind of small town that I grew up in. Though it was a nice, quiet life, I was deeply searching for something deeper and more profound. I wanted to explore the world. I wanted to know what was out there. I had a love for history, philosophy, politics, and languages. I knew that staying cooped up in the small town was too limiting.
When it was time for university, I ended up attending the top school in the state, which is not saying much since the university was merely competently ranked among other state universities and barely qualified as anything special internationally. However, despite it being a small state university, there happened to be a lot of international students. I befriended and learned a lot about their cultures and religions. You could argue that it was during this period that my curiosity to see the world truly peaked. I was tremendously curious. How different was their lifestyle compared to my own?
I had one opportunity to study abroad, but my parents turned it down. I could understand their reservations as it probably went against their own political ideology, and the fact that it was a country they had never visited made them feel uneasy. Nonetheless, my opportunity to travel would come very soon. This would quench at least the first part of my curiosity.
This thirst for exploration only intensified as I progressed through university. Despite the setbacks, the opportunity to travel would very soon present itself following my graduation.