Onto my life's next adventure...

I am in RDU airport, about to board a flight to Bilbao, Spain where I will live for a few months with the goal to expand my worldviews and to be more career-ready. It’s 6 o’clock in the morning and my eyes are bloodshot with sleep I didn’t get because the adrenaline kept me up last night. My anticipation is reflected in my feet that can’t keep still on the carpeted airport floor and my appetite seems to be the last thing I want to satiate. As I reflect on my journey during the last few years, it is intriguing to see how some decisions led me here.

During my time at NC State I remember continuously thinking that I wanted to get myself somewhere beyond the brick-filled grounds of the NC State campus. The university was always able to propel my curiosity forward and nurse my hunger for new adventures - even if just over the railroad tracks at the arboretum - and the encouragement permitted me to take my studies beyond the backyards of Raleigh.

 

Going abroad wasn't a difficult decision for me, as I'd wanted to go since high school when recruiters came and tried to convince me to apply to their university. In order to go abroad, I had to spend at least a year on campus at NC State. The second semester of my junior year, I went to Surrey, England and it was one of the most memorable months of my life. I know that most people say this, but it is true and everyone I’ve spoken to who have been abroad always smile and launch into a story of adventure and happy memories. I remember during one orientation for all students who were going abroad, I met a student who was going to a small town in Australia. Funny enough, the following year, I met him in another post-abroad event and he told me of his stories abroad and we couldn’t stop talking about who we met and what we did and how those countries compared to the United States.

My senior year was bittersweet, as I was going to graduate with a degree in communications and I felt as though the fast four years of my life went by too quickly for me to grasp. I didn't have a job lined up after graduation so I was looking until I found an internship at People-first Tourism (P1t). The company strives to give a voice to local entrepreneurs, selling tourism experiences or Journeys where guests can understand the local community and share in the impactful moments that make up their community’s livelihood. 

At first, I didn't understand what I would be doing with the co-founders and as I was to understand, they were learning as much as I was on how to grow a small business. I threw myself into doing whatever they needed doing, because as it turns out, I didn't know what I wanted to do after graduation. I learned the back-end of the website, wrote press releases, and managed a project that spanned the course of the 2018 summer. They were accommodating on my journey​ to figure out my life and they continue to be. Working with them gave me insights into the business of growing a startup, and perhaps most importantly, they ushered me to continue to find myself through interactions with other cultures.

During the bi-annual get-togethers with P1t staff, entrepreneurs and community partners, I noticed that most of the people in the broad P1t community have extremely diverse cultures and identities. I found a kinship with this crowd because I was born in Vietnam and came to the United State when I was four. At home, we follow a lot of Vietnamese traditions, but they’ve been molded by American culture. We speak Vietnamese, though often we include English words and it becomes a blend of Viet-lish, as we like to call it. In retrospect, I now realize that the multiple cultures I inhabit drew me irrevocably to the community that surrounds the P1t company and my internship has in turn crystallized my interests in other cultures.

 

Tomorrow I am heading to Bilbao, Spain for a study abroad experience.This time I’ll need to learn another language, which I think will not be extremely difficult for me.  But I am a bit sobered by this adventure because everyone around me will be speaking Spanish. Yet, thanks to my tumultuous life journey, my rich experience at NC State and my membership in P1t’s eclectic and culturally diverse community, I know that stepping out of my comfort zone is the best way for me to explore new ways of thinking and of living, and to grow as a better person and aspiring young professional.   

 

By: Alix Vo
       P1t Jedi Intern and NC State Communications class of 2017