what i miss while traveling

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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btw, feel free to reply with topic ideas you want me to write about for future posts.

onto today’s topic: what i miss while traveling 🤞 

of course, i miss all the things that homesickness unleashes. waking up to the smell of paratha in the kitchen, chaotic drives with my family, rollerblading up and down the streets of my neighbourhood, fits of hysteric laughter with my sister, going on adventures with my best friends, little shopping trips with my mom, and the list goes on.

but that’s not the point of this post. one thing i miss in particular is having thought-provoking conversations. 🤓 yeah, let’s talk about the political and economic state of the world. my main form of intellectual stimulation for the past 3 months has been looking into cool topics prompted by this blog and the occasional problem solving required while traveling (reading novels on my kindle doesn’t count). i haven’t delved deep into a research topic, had a deep, insightful conversation or worked on an intensive project in ages, and i miss that.

call me a nerd all you want, but the satisfaction of intentionally learning something new and challenging my brain is amazing. yes, i’m learning and uncovering more of the world each day while traveling and i’m absolutely loving it, but i do miss that mental stimulation. 🧠 

today, our wifi wasn’t cooperating and the movie we had picked for our daily binge wasn’t loading, so philip, sachi & i somehow launched into a long discussion weaving philosophy, ethics, politics, science and much more. we challenged schools of thoughts in the ideal of practicing what you preach (which i’ll get into in another blog post), and i felt so satisfied. asking questions, making connections and broadening my perspective — i swear i could feel my neurons synapsing LMAO.

i was literally fascinated by plastic waste statistics the other day because i was fiending for knowledge. 😭 i guess this is also part of why i’m still looking forward to college despite having experienced the joy of traveling — you don’t get many opportunities for deeper discourse while hopping from one country to the next. environments like college and sf hacker houses (💀) are much more suited for it.

and when i’m in school, i’ll desperately miss traveling. what a lovely cycle!

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