Week Zero: Pre-departure

I felt like graduation would never actually happen. I had all of these dates on my calendar: The date of my last class, of my last day at the job I had for four years, the date when my parents got to town. They date when I would walk across the stage and get a handshake in exchange for four years of hard work and thousands of dollars. But I was surprised when those dates ran out and I had only one thing left: June 25th, Jakarta.

In my last class, a capstone class for my certificate program in the business school, my professor had every student come forward and share their post-graduation plans. “Investment banking” one student said, “pharmaceutical sales” said another. “Wearing three piece suit and working 70 hours a week, making billions of dollars, and my next vacation will be when I retire at 80,” said another. Just kidding…kind of. I said I was heading to Indonesia to work as a journalist for three months and after that I had no idea what I was doing. Safe to say I was the only one with that plan.

UW graduation

In the few days between graduation and departure, I said goodbye to a lot of friends who I have no idea when I’ll see again. I packed up my room in the house I shared with my best friends, said goodbye for now, and prepared to fly to Asia.

I know everything will be different when I get back in September. I won’t be living within four blocks of all of my college friends. I won’t be going back to school in the fall for the first time since I was four years old. I don't know what I’ll be doing, but I’ll worry about that later.

For the last few months, people have asked why I’m doing this. I say why not. I can’t wait to experience working as an international reporter. I want to learn what its like to work at one of the largest media companies in Indonesia. For me, this program is the perfect mix between doing something productive for my future and getting to see a little more of the world.

I was pipe dreaming when I applied for UW’s Foreign Intrigue Scholarship, the program that sponsored myself and a few other students and recent grads to travel to developing countries (India, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Jordan, and Mexico) to work as journalists for the summer. I’m so incredibly thankful to have this opportunity. In high school, my teachers often reminded students of the value of a good education and told us “to whom much is given, much is expected,” and to always “pay things forward.” That's what I hope to do in my time here: to learn as much as I can and to take that back with me, and somehow pay it forward.

So here we go, see you on the other side of the Pacific.