Wanderlust

I couldn't really pinpoint when I first heard of this word, but I would probably tell you that I have been experiencing wanderlust since my secondary school days. Remind you, those were the days before the popularity of Facebook or Instagram. As teenagers, we mostly relied on the word of mouth, printed media, or the television to bring us to lands beyond our reach. The experience of traveling to nearby countries, such as Malaysia/ Thailand/ HK/ Taiwan/ China/ Korea/ Austrialia, were already worthy of envy amongst classmates and peers. Yet, with the advancement of technology (social media) and introduction of budget flights, such countries were no longer enough to feed our hunger for exploration. We need somewhere further; we need somewhere more exotic.

Being the impressionable youth I am, I once made a pact with myself to travel to 10 countries as part of my bucket list. While I am still lacking just a few countries more, I am more experiencing an internal crisis of balancing responsibilities and aspirations. The most vital factors:

1) Time
I don't have time to travel during the off-peak seasons and I don't have the money to travel during peak seasons. To be honest, my past semester breaks were all spent working or meeting people. I know I have to make time to actually GO. But then I don't want to sacrifice too much of my limited free time which can be spent on hanging out with people and working.

2) Finances
Urgh, I am poor. Double urgh, my family is poor. Which is why I work during the holiday and have no time to travel. I did try looking for jobs during the semester... I just am not employed :(

3) Travel companion
While my selfie game is kind of there now (thanks for the lack of adventure buddies), I still prefer to travel with someone overseas. I like solitude, but not to the extent of traveling overseas alone. It's more fun to experience and laugh at local cultures together than do it alone?

& then:

HKU to make 'mainland China experience' compulsory for undergrad students

Not sure what to think about this...

While I agree that overseas exchange programmes allow students to learn from different cultures, I don't think such programmes should be made compulsory. Not everyone is interested nor is everyone rich enough to afford such luxuries.

It'll be silly to think that learning and experiencing different cultures could only be done during the tertiary education years, because learning never stops until you die. Given the choice, I would rather travel when I am more financial independent. & also free from the obligation to do assignments while exploring new places -.-