My first solo hike was in China at age 11

To preface, I am an extremely adventurous individual who never realized she had a passion for the undiscovered and undisclosed crevices of the world until recently.  I’ve spent my whole life exploring, and yet never dedicated enough time or thought to call it a hobby let alone my lifelong passion.

I spent 7 years in China from the ages of 9 to 16. As an expat in Asia, I was always learning and adapting to new cultures and languages from every continent of the world. Throughout my 7 years in China, I often found myself constantly straying from the beaten path. I would venture out of my urban apartment on the 25th floor into the nearby mountains. I would climb rocks and trees, whatever I could find to get a clearer view of the beautifully bustling city I was so fortunate to live in. To me, this was normal, but to my friends in the fourth grade, it was anything but. I guess you could say this is where it all began, in the mountains of Dalian, China enclosing this bountiful coastal city where I discovered my adventurous spirit.

Only a 20-minute walk from home and a few miles up the mountain I was never concerned for my safety. My parents weren’t either, busy with their prospering careers eager to grow.

And so I continued on without intervention or fail, every week I would find a new crevice of the city, mountains, or sea to explore, uncover, and examine. While the image above of the Tianzi mountains is not my own, it’s a representation of the beauty and vastness of China’s mountains.

I took those 7 years as an outsider to grow and find my own. I became incredibly independent with an adventurous spirit to tackle and overcome the world’s greatest barriers. Every conversation, new destination, and way of life was a learning opportunity. Of how I can better myself and the world. Being constantly surrounded by various and sometimes combatting outlooks on life taught me to think and value travel. Travel is incredibly not simply for what you see but what you hear, experience, and take with you everywhere you go in life.

For this outlook on life, travel, and new experiences alone I will be forever grateful to have grown up in a foreign country such as China.