“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 memberof East Asian society.

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

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

Everyday, I yearn for the thrill of travelling, the thrill of trying a new Asian dish, the thrill ofbargaining with a hostile vendor on the street for a bracelet that caught my eye. I catch myselfwatching hours Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, and replaying the episodes where he visits asmall town in China or secluded village deep in Vietnam. Occasionally, I scroll through the picturesfrom my travels, lingering on the ones where my memories stem from.

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

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

Though I’m devastated about not being able to travel for the summer, staying in place does haveits up’s. I graduated from high school just recently. As I walked across the stage, reaching out formy 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 mostimportant stages in my life. I was soon entering the real world, but I had one last summer thatsee-sawed in between the real world and the world my peers and I had just left. I had one lastsummer 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 AnimalHospital and Resort where I look after dogs whose owners have left for summer vacation. Thework may be hard, but at least I’m compensated.

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