Approaching the half-mile of the summer holidays, I thought
it worthwhile to ruminate on my travels thus far.
So here we go!
My first port of call exiting Abu Dhabi was Kerala. A flake
of coastal state amidst India’s deep south, Kerala is defined by its diverse
landscape; 600km of glorious coastline overlooking the Arabian Sea, languid
networks of glistening backwater, and spice and tea-covered slopes as far as
the eye can see.
Now in keeping with the typecast image of any moody
adolescent, for the longest time I have had no patience for nature, or frankly anything
past the 13-inch display of my MacBook. However, time and the diploma program
has no doubt softened me, and I now gladly embrace the patch of palm-shaded
green I call home, and it’s ability to loosen one’s sub-continental stride, into
nothing more than a blissful amble.
Moving on from the sunny sweeps of India, an hour’s flight
found me in the island paradise that is Sri-Lanka.
Oodles of elephants, cheap prices, rolling surf and some of
the friendliest people you will ever meet; that is what Sri-Lanka is to me.
Now, these few words by no means do justice to Sri-Lanka’s
true depth and magnitude, rather they represent my own relationship with the
Island-nation.
For you see, Sri-Lanka was a place of many firsts for me, it
was on it’s shores that I went on my first mission trip, played my first
concert, surfed my first wave, rode my first elephant, and traveled away from home
without the comfort of my parents.
In all my travels to Sri-Lanka what has struck me the most about
the nation, is the kindness and determination of its people.
Despite the myriad of challenges they have faced over recent
years; civil war and natural disaster, Sri-Lankans remain some of the most charming
people on the planet, resolute in their endeavor to better and rebuild their
nation.
Heading into the holidays a number of individuals had warned
me that it wouldn’t be much of a break at all. Though this has been true to
some extent, given all the work I’ve received, I’ve found that if you one
strike a balance between work and play they can reap the best of both worlds.
In the immoral words of Wiz Khalifa you’ve just got to “Work
hard, play hard.”
