Travel & Leisure: Europe

Why do you want to do this?

I want to backpack through Europe because I feel like I have worked very hard in the last 5 years for school and i feel like I have grown as a person in the last 5 years but I want to learn to be independant. I want to experience something on my own, without my parents or my boyfriend guiding me along through a moment in my life. If I do not do this now, I will never do it. I also think that when you have a boyfriend for as long as I have (and I am not downplaying my relationship with him because he is my world) you lose a part of independant self in that person. I want to discover the authentic me and I will not find this necessarily in Europe but I will find it with my girlfriends and find it by taking care of myself, on my own with positive reflection.

What three things will you need to make this happen?

Save my money. Less trips to the mall.

Bravery.

positive self talk.

What is the biggest barrier to your achieving this?

my guilt. I feel so guilty leaving my boyfriend behind for one month, but I look at it as a positve experience every day. I feel guilty that he won't be there to experience what I am experiencing. However, the point of my trip to re-discover myself independantly. This is a month for me, only me.