Under the Stars

15: Experiences Abroad

The Joneses kept my dad occupied while Rocky and I traveled the world. They had him over every week for dinner and Mr. Jones made sure to have a guys' night with him every Friday. Their relationship grew exponentially during my absence. I was glad that dad had a friend to keep him on his toes. I always looked forward to my phone calls with dad. No matter what the time difference was, he always answered his phone. He would fill me in on the happenings around town and with work and I would tell him of our plans for the day or how the day went. He always asked about our self-defense practices, and I always replied that we were doing them. We did them every day. I couldn't bring myself to lie to him about that. I couldn't break his trust like that. It was part of the conditions that we both agreed on so that I could travel with Rocky.

Rocky and I began our year abroad in Asia. Japan was our first stop followed by Hong Kong, South Korea, and finally India. Our goal was to spend about seven days in each country, sightseeing, eating local cuisine, and learning as much as we could about each country and culture in such a short amount of time. I loved starting in Japan: The land of the rising sun seemed to be the perfect place to begin our trip around the world. Traveling by ourselves was hard at least at first. We constantly needed help with the different languages, but growing up around the Joneses, I was able to pick up on some helpful Japanese and Korean phrases. The more we traveled, the more I wished I had learned more.

After our month in Asia, we went south to Australia. We snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef. The amount of beauty under the water was simply astounding. We also visited the Kosciuszko National Park where we were lucky enough to see lots of different wildlife including a small herd of brumbies, which was a small dream of mine to see. Rocky had always wanted to visit Sydney, saying "How could we not visit Sydney? I mean: 'P Sherman 32 Wallaby Way, Sydney.'" She would quote that line anytime we talked about Australia. Once in Sydney, we attended an opera at the Sydney Opera House. It was simply stunning. We stayed in the "land down under" for a week soaking in the sights before continuing our journey.

After Australia, we went to Africa for nearly two months. We started in South Africa. It was amazing. We stayed in Durban. We asked what we should do, and the overall majority of people suggested shark cage diving. Rocky, the one who loved adventure and was seemingly fearless, was terrified. However, my dear and brave friend got into that cage with me and it was an amazing experience that we both will never forget.

After South Africa, we traveled northwest to Namibia. In Namibia, we heard of the tall sand dunes and took a hot air balloon ride to see them. This time it was my turn to be anxious. I was a little nervous about being at the mercy of the wind in the hot air balloon, but the views simply erased all the anxiety that had built up inside of me. It was indescribably breathtaking. We took many pictures on that flight. The next week took us to Botswana. There we went to the Okavango Delta to survey the landscape and see the wildlife. The next two weeks were spent in Zimbabwe and Zambia. We were both pushed out of our comfort zones white water rafting in the Zambezi River. We also did not miss the opportunity to see Victoria Falls in all its beauty.

As we made our way north through the southern continent, we tried to catch the Great Migration in Tanzania and Kenya; however, we were too late. Despite being late to see the millions of animals traveling, we were still able to spot a variety of wildlife on our safari drive. After Kenya and Tanzania, we went to Uganda. The small, landlocked country held one of the most special moments on our trip. We went to the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park to observe the gorilla family that lived there. The guide was quite sure we wouldn't see them on our tour as they had a report that the family had moved from the location our tour was supposed to go to. However, the guide was pleasantly surprised as we were indeed able to spend an hour observing the gorilla family in their natural habitat. We were exceedingly cautious and followed every direction thrown at us to keep both the tourists and the gorillas safe. The experience in seeing those majestic creatures was inexplainable.

The last country on our African continent tour was Egypt. Egypt had a lot of pull on us, as we knew all too well from history class, science class, and economics. For some reason, to our surprise in high school, our teachers must have collaborated to have us all learning about the same thing at the same time. We all had projects or reports on Egypt, ranging from the climate and the different ecosystems, the economic status, and the history of the pyramids. Rocky and I knew we had to see it for ourselves in person. We loved it.

We spent longer in Egypt than the other African countries. The sights were simply stunning. We traveled up the Nile River, toured the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, and of course, visited the pyramids and sphinx. The pyramids were accurately described as "wonders." The mere size of even the smaller ones was enough to take one's breath away. I would have loved to know how they were built and the time it took to do it. The creativity and ingenuity to complete such a thing without the use of our modern-day technology and tools was an astonishing feat, not to mention they stood intact for thousands of years. I think that is where my interest in architecture and building truly began. After the eight weeks spent in Africa, we were sad to leave that beautiful continent, but we were excited to continue our travels.

We went north into the Mediterranean Sea, where we spent almost four months altogether. We visited Croatia, Cyprus, Montenegro, and Italy, before staying in Greece for almost two months. As we traveled through the different countries, my desire to study the architecture of the ancient ruins to the modern abodes grew. It intensified once we made our way to Greece. Greece held a special place in my heart and Rocky was more than willing to indulge in my wishes to stay there longer than most of the other countries we had planned to visit. Her only request was that we stay just as long in France, specifically Paris, so that she could see and study Parisian fashion before we continued our trip around the world.

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