Travel – ��Vlog�ٷ�

Cody Broncucia – Navigating Challenges

Cody Broncucia — Sat, 13 Aug 2016 09:36:21 +0000

Without a doubt, and without fear of overstating, the ideas and techniques that I learned from the facilitators at ��Vlog�ٷ� are the reason why I decided to study abroad as a Rotary exchange student in high school and continue to travel extensively while in college.

Looking back, ��Vlog�ٷ� didn’t just enable me to have the confidence to travel but gave me the ability to make my travel a positive experience, which has involved overcoming communication barriers, “culture-shock,” a lack of infrastructure and an array of other challenging circumstances. What’s kept me traveling is that fact that I love experiencing new cultures, meeting new people and experiencing new places in the not so traditional, sometimes superficial way. However, if I had not learned to be comfortable with the uncomfortable or how to be “FM” or knowing that there is a universal human language, I would have never been able to get through the tough moments of travel or been able to build the necessary relationships that lead to being able to live in and experience a country in a more authentic way.

Travel is overly romanticized and painted as endless experiences of being taken in like family from the people of the country, endless sunrises and sunsets over exotic and lost in time locations, or non-stop adventure. Although these moments certainly happen, between the most beautiful sunrise that comes up over the Amazon River or eating tamales at sunset—the ones you made from scratch by going out to the corn field—with you friend Lucho in El Salvador, you probably had to navigate your way through 100 other challenges to get there. ��Vlog�ٷ� give you tools to get through challenges and connect with people, and a mindset that, no matter what happens, allows you’re experience abroad will be a valuable and positive one.

Hannah Urtz – Creation of the Self

Hannah Urtz — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 09:38:07 +0000

When we set out to travel, it is often with a busy mind and a hopeful heart. Amidst the anticipation, guidebooks are consulted, weather reports are checked, and lovely screenshots of our destination begin to occupy our desktops. There is purpose in this, but this kind of preparation lacks the intention that has the power to transform a trip into a profound human experience. We travel, of course, to see new sights, taste new delicacies, and to be so deeply stirred that even our old lives may be seen through new lenses. Essentially, we look to gain vital global perspective and enjoy a respite from our regular routines. Yet, part of the beauty of leaping from one’s comfort zone into the unknown is not just the discovery of new lands, but the discovery and the creation of the self and one’s capabilities.

New and uncomfortable situations are fertile ground for massive internal shifts: the realization of dreams, self-reckoning, and the awakening of power. Yet this does not occur merely because of the whimsy and romance of the world; it is deliberate. It is the consequential byproduct of set intention, self-reflection and practice in an unfamiliar situation. Though it may seem like the new and exciting land is the most important part of this equation, it is the deliberate way of being with which one enters this foreign land that remains the most impressive agent of change. It is only through internal preparation prior to travel that this can be achieved.

As someone who has now spent some time living abroad in places very different from the US, I have come to realize just how vital these lessons are, not only in my own self-understanding, but also in merely functioning on a day-to-day basis. In preparing an internal project, I have been able to set an intention that has opened me up to more profound and beautiful human experiences. In practicing my being (a difficult task for a self-proclaimed knower) I find myself at ease and sure in difficult times, and true to myself in others. In reflection I understand myself, my growth and my place. My time abroad has facilitated, necessitated and demonstrated all of this, though it has not created it. I have done that (and I continue to work on it!), quite purposefully, once I had been prepared.

Jack Bredar – You Cannot Fail

Jack Bredar — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 15:49:45 +0000

You may be thinking to yourself “What are these basic human resources? I don’t really get it.” That is, at least, what I thought when I was first introduced to them. But as I continue to think about basic human resources, I realize I am thinking about who I am and who I want to be in the world just as much as I am thinking about them as independent of myself. That’s the thing, you are them and they are you. You just forgot. So, now, you may be thinking “Well, how do I remember? How do I re-adapt to the lack of use of my basic human resources?” I would first suggest you recognize that basic human resources are constantly in play. In this moment ask yourself, who is participating? What am I observing? What senses am I employing? How is my memory remembering? You will soon realize that what you were looking for was right in front of you. As you open your eyes to the constant play of these resources, ask yourself “To what basic human resource do I feel I have become most disconnected?” and then practice it! Have you become adapted to the lack of use of participation? Participate! Does your body feel creaky and tired? Move, dance, run, jump!

As you travel to distant lands in the coming months, allow the space you enter to serve as a laboratory for the practice of your most disconnected resource. Observe what you create through your action. You cannot fail.[

Caroline Meserve – Mind the Gap

Caroline Meserve — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 15:45:48 +0000

London was great because every time I boarded the Tube I was reminded to “mind the gap” – (The motto of ��Vlog�ٷ�). I minded the gap within the relationships I made there but most importantly I minded that gap between myself and my surroundings. I got to experience so much last year and it would have been a shame if I had not been truly present for it.

I intentionally made choices that made me uncomfortable and more aware of these gaps. I know from my ��Vlog�ٷ� training that there is so much to gain from doing what makes me uncomfortable, which is what led me to choose a year long study abroad program where I would be traveling by myself, not with my school.

I learned how to keep pushing, figure things out on my own, ask for help when I needed it and play at a new level. While I was there I did something that was uncomfortable everyday, from starting a conversation with someone new to exploring a different part of London or traveling to another country for a weekend. “Minding the gap” and “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable” were extremely important aspects of my year but I think the biggest thing I took with me to London was paying attention to my limiting beliefs. There were A LOT of times I caught myself thinking that I was not smart enough to study at the London School of Economics or not strong enough to be away from everyone I knew for a year. Similarly, moving across the world by myself was terrifying and overwhelming and I made mistakes. Being able to recognized my limiting beliefs in the moment was wildly important because I was smart enough and strong enough to handle it. Once I identified that these thoughts were limiting me, I was able to confront them and spend my energy learning and being in London.

Natalie Walter – Expectations, Upset and Possibility

Natalie Walter — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 15:34:03 +0000

I traveled to Kenya in 2011 with Bold Leaders when I was 17, and I traveled to Nepal two years later. I called my ��Vlog�ٷ� coach Michael a little bit before I left; I was nervous to be gone for two and a half months, with much of that time spent with no internet or phone service, no lights or plumbing. Over the phone, Michael guided me to take out a piece of paper and begin to draw. There were two paths in this drawing, starting on the left side of the paper. One started at the word “possibility,” and one started at the word “expectation.” Both paths went through an upset in the center of the drawing. But, the path that started out as possibility remained possibility on the other side.

These are not instructions to not plan; these are not instructions to fail to carry the medicine with you that will inevitably be needed when your sensitive American stomach can’t handle the untreated Nepali water you drink. I’ve needed to face threats to the safety of the group I was leading in Palestine and Israel, when shots were fired; to be very conscious of myself when my Peruvian classmates in Lima had to understand me through me gringa accent; to translate for an eager group of college students volunteering in Guatemala, while questioning myself why we were even there and if we were helping or harming by coming in and leaving so quickly.

Moments like these have required that I am prepared, yes. But when you focus on a predetermined outcome for travel in things that you can’t control – I WILL return fluent in Spanish, I WILL make a difference in this Nepali community, I WILL teach my group ways they can fight injustice – when the upsets come, they remain upsetting. I’ve learned to be conscious of my thoughts.