Edition 15 - Reflecting
Somehow, I have reached the intended end of my backpacking journey. It is incredibly difficult to put my experiences over these past 8 months into words. When I left my job at a New York City advertising agency in August 2023, I thought I had an idea of what this year would bring. If you’ve been here since the beginning, you might have thought you knew too. But boy, were we utterly wrong.
Taking a Step Back
In August 2023, I decided to make a big life change. I was living in New York City and working at a global media agency for a bit over 4 years. I enjoyed the general work that I was doing, I had finally found a really incredible community in Brooklyn, and I was living on my own in an apartment that felt homey, but I was missing a purpose.
Re-enter Yahel, a truly incredible organization based in Israel.
Yahel was an organization that I experienced in 2018 when I took part in an extremely eye-opening weekend retreat focused on diversity and inclusion for different communities in northern Israel (if you’re curious about what 20-year-old Emma thought, you can read about it). I was blown away. We spoke about the beauty and difficulty of pluralism. I loved being a part of an organization that valued diversity in this land as much as I did, I knew it wouldn’t be the last time I saw this community.
I was right. I left my corporate advertising job in 2023 to take part in the 9-month Yahel Social Change Fellowship. This fellowship allows participants to live with local communities, dig deep into local culture, experience diverse Israeli communities, and serve alongside passionate professionals and activists. I was living in Lod (just southwest of Tel Aviv), a mixed city with Arabs and Jews living alongside each other. This program’s volunteer placements were focused on helping the two communities thrive and bringing them together. The first few weeks of the fellowship were incredible - we started Hebrew classes, visited volunteer placements in Lod, and explored our new homes. Then October 7th happened and everything changed.
Regrouping Within
I left Israel on October 12th, 2024 after my fellowship was suspended for our safety. I found the quickest and cheapest flight out of the country, landed in Romania with a broken heart, and hoped to return to Israel in a week if the war was over. Of course, that didn’t happen.
If I met you in Romania, you have impacted my life in many ways. I was inspired by the people I met in Romania, specifically in Brașov. I never thought about backpacking before, it didn’t feel possible, it felt difficult. I liked to plan everything out, I was very ‘type-a’. However, the situation I was placed in didn’t allow for that anymore. So, I regrouped. I looked inward and asked myself what I wanted to accomplish this year and how I wanted to spend my time. I also asked the people around me.
I was astonished by the minimalism that naturally came with backpacking. I left Israel with just enough clothes for one week and not much else - I was basically already doing it. I wanted to explore new people and places while experiencing deep cultural immersion. Backpacking would allow for that. I had hoped to focus on volunteer work. Many long-term backpackers volunteer abroad throughout their travels while living with locals. It seemed scary not to know what tomorrow would bring but slowly, I began to find comfort and excitement in that same experience.
The Beauty of Travel
There is so much beauty in seeing the world - in the sights, the history, and the humans. I never dreamed of seeing the nations I entered this year or experiencing 18 extraordinary countries in just 8 months.
I found an interest in history when Social Studies was always my least favorite subject in school. I connected deeper with myself than I have in my last 26 years of life. I fell in love with the diverse world around me and redeveloped my passion for bringing people together.
Travel, especially the extensive way that I did over these past few months, is a privilege. I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity, but it’s not always glamorous. It’s exhausting, it can be smelly, and you feel like you always look like a backpacker (we love leggings and a big T-shirt). But it’s so raw and real - you don’t have any energy to be someone that you aren’t. You are just so completely yourself, it’s beautiful.
Final Reflections
Over the past 8 months, I have been watching the US from afar while exploring new people and places. I’ve opened my ears and my heart to those who have differing opinions, perspectives, and backgrounds. I’ve set aside the disruptive stories that the media has shared about insular communities and instead chose to live alongside them. I seek this out because I believe that this is how we can humanize each other, how we can start to see through the eyes of different communities, and how we can take a step towards a more pluralistic and peaceful society.
I went to public school growing up in California, I have close ties to a beautiful and strong ultra-orthodox Jewish community, I have friends going to church and growing in their Christian faith, I have loved ones with Arabic and Muslim roots, and I have connections to those who aren’t religious and see the world in a completely different way. It’s a blessing, truly. I am exposed to so much thought but still, I crave more.
Right now, we are living in a world that is very polarizing. We see “the other” as a synonym for “the enemy”. But what if we started to have hard conversations? What if we didn’t unfollow those with differing opinions and instead, befriended them? After all, problems in this world don’t get solved by a group of people with the same belief system, sitting in the same room, and making decisions that are best for them. Seek out a new perspective and listen. If we all listen, everyone gets heard. I hope to live in a world where we work to see other people's reality and their humanity even when we disagree. There is so much to gain when we exist in diverse societies. Pluralism is not easy. But just because it’s not easy, doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.