“读万卷书，行万里路”，旅行可以开拓我们的视野，让我们体验到不同的文化，拥有不同的心境。但是如果有一天，你因为种种原因无法出去旅行，请不要沮丧，因为你可以让这种不旅行成为一种最美的旅行。

Whether I like it or not, I consider myself an honorary member of East Asian society.

For the past 2 years, I’ve had the privilege of travelling to various countries in Asia, specifically Indonesia and China. These trips weren’t the typical vacations that last for roughly two weeks and consist of hopping¹ from one tourist destination to the next. Rather, I completely immersed myself in the culture, staying in both Indonesia and China for approximately 6 weeks. I befriended the man who made my breakfast everyday in Beijing, and I keep in touch with the girl I worked with at WiCell Technologies in Jakarta.

After two consecutive² years of escaping to the Eastern Hemisphere, however, I’m staying at home. In colloquial³ terms, it sucks.

Everyday, I yearn⁴ for the thrill of travelling, the thrill of trying a new Asian dish, the thrill of bargaining with a hostile vendor⁵ on the street for a bracelet⁶ that caught my eye. I catch myself watching hours Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, and replaying the episodes where he visits a small town in China or secluded⁷ village deep in Vietnam. Occasionally, I scroll⁸ through the pictures from my travels, lingering on the ones where my memories stem from.

My desire to travel, in fact, makes me incredibly impulsive⁹. One day, I was watching my old friend Andrew Zimmern travel to Cambodia. I watched him taste the peculiar¹⁰ foods and float down a massive man-made lake, clustered with locals trying to find dinner. The second the show ended, I ran upstairs to my computer and looked up plane tickets to Phnom Penh. It’s pathetic, I know.

I apologize for this sob¹¹ story that’s dominated a good portion of my article. Let me try to spin things around.

Though I’m devastated¹² about not being able to travel for the summer, staying in place does have its up’s. I graduated from high school just recently. As I walked across the stage, reaching out for my high school principal’s hand with my right and taking my diploma with my left, I graduated. As I walked across the stage, almost in a trance, I realized I had just wrapped up one of the most important stages in my life. I was soon entering the real world, but I had one last summer that see-sawed in between the real world and the world my peers and I had just left. I had one last summer to make memories with high school friends that I would reminisce about during old age.

Additionally, I am pleased to say I have found a job this summer. I work at the Seneca Hill Animal Hospital and Resort where I look after dogs whose owners have left for summer vacation. The work may be hard, but at least I’m compensated¹³.

All in all, life at home so far has not been all that difficult. I’m spending time with old friends, and earning for myself, two things that could not be done outside the US. Although I would have wanted to spend the summer in a magical land with foreign foods, languages, and people, I have to realize that life is what you make of it. That’s why I’m going to make my time at home the best vacation I’ve ever had.