#1) Free Spirit

Well, it's official - I leave in just 5 short days on the trip of a lifetime. Armed with only the clothes and supplies I can carry on my back and a healthy dose of courage, I'll board a one-way flight out of the US - completely alone and knowing that I won't be returning for at least 8 months. I'm not sure I'm able to accurately describe the flurry of emotions I'm feeling at the moment, but it could probably be best summed up as an 'anxious exhilaration'.

Although it feels as though I've told just about everyone about what I'm doing for the next 8 months, some of you reading this now still might not know exactly what it is I'm talking about. I apologize if I haven't been able to explain it to you in person, but in short: I'm one of four recently graduated seniors from the University of Michigan who this past April was awarded what's called a Bonderman Fellowship. Each of us in this inaugural class of fellows was given a stipend of $20,000 and the opportunity to completely plan out 8-months independent world travel meant to facilitate cross-cultural learning and engagement. There are a few overarching rules to the experience, but overall they're really not too constraining. Sounds too good to be true, right? For more information check out the website here: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/cgis/bonderman/

My itinerary on the website is a little out of date as recent conflict in Israel has led me to revise my travel plans, so the new itinerary is as follows:

- Turkey (1 month)

- Zimbabwe (2 weeks)

- South Africa (1.5 months)

- India (2 months)

- Nepal (3 weeks)

-Thailand (1 month)

-Cambodia (2.5 weeks)

-Vietnam (4 weeks)

Considering that I've only traveled internationally once and I only speak English and some pretty rusty Spanish, this experience is well outside of my comfort zone and will definitely challenge the core of my beliefs, assumptions and world view. And that's really the point of it all, isn't it? There are so many unknowns to this trip: people, places, cultures, languages, experiences, emotions, obstacles, etc. Just about the only thing I do know for certain is that I will not come back as the same man. 

I'm going to miss all the family, friends and acquaintances who I'm leaving behind, but I'm sure you're all just as excited for me to set out on this grand adventure as I am. The best place to follow along with my journey is definitely this blog - I'm going to try and post pictures and updates on my thoughts and experiences weekly or at the very least bi-weekly. You can also follow along with this interactive map that I'll be updating with all my stops as I go along: Bonderman Travel Itinerary

The best way to contact me is through email since I won't have a permanent physical address on the road and I'll only be using my phone for emergencies. Feel free contact me anytime at tmesman@umich.edu and I'll get back to you as soon as I have a spare moment. I'd seriously love to hear from any and all of you from home about anything - words of encouragement, a quick check-in, questions about travel in general or even applying to this awesome opportunity yourself. Lastly, if you're itching to see my face and hear my voice you can add me on Skype - my username is tyler.mesman. I'm not sure how often I'll have a good enough wifi connection to actually Skype, but we'll make it work.

So that marks the end of my first official blog post. Thanks for reading this far and I sincerely hope that my musings, pictures and stories keep you interested enough to following my entire journey on this blog!