PROFILE OF LAUREL CHOR (18) …….by Margaret Chen

Laurel Chor graduated from High School (Secondary School) in June 2007 and instead of heading directly to University, she deferred her acceptance to one of the best universities on the East Coast of the United States so that she could take a Gap Year. (Click here to read her article)

Laurel planned and coordinated all her own travel arrangements for her travels through seven countries in South America over a four month period - hiking the famous Inca Trail from Cusco to Machu Picchu and working in an orphanage for a month in Bolivia. She’s resting back in Hong Kong before embarking on the second part of her travels in February, this time around the continent of Africa. She shares her thoughts and how she planned her ambitious adventure and what she hopes to gain from the experiences she has had, and will be having.

January 2008
LC: Laurel Chor
MC: Margaret Chen

MC: What are the most surprising things - good and bad - that you encountered?
LC: I was surprised by how open people were to me. There are barely any Asian travelers in South America, as the two continents are on opposite sides of the world. Furthermore, I was a female who was traveling alone, at the age of 17. On a daily basis I’d have to assure people that it was the truth, and that my family are okay with that. But after they got over the shock, they very quickly treated me as an adult and gave me no special treatment, besides asking a few questions.

There weren’t too many bad things that I encountered on my trip, but perhaps one of them was that a large portion of travelers from the Western world rarely experience the true local culture. I am guilty as well – it is always much, much easier to socialize with people who speak the same language and who can relate to you. But I did make an effort – I went from having practically nonexistent Spanish to being mistaken for Mexican (that puzzled me too), and I lived with families in Guatemala and Bolivia. Some travelers just seemed to want to party in a new place and to be able to tell cool stories to friends back home. Of course, there were extremes, from people who never left the hostel to people who disappeared with jungle tribes for months. But I believe that much of the whole point of traveling is to understand the world and its cultures, and some people didn’t seem to share the same belief.

MC: Laurel, what gave you the impetus to embark on such an ambitious Gap Year?
LC: I have always had this insatiable desire to see and do everything this world has to offer. For me this short year, at a perfect time in my life, would bring me a little bit closer to achieving that goal…

MC: How did you convince your parents to allow you to do this?
LC: My parents have always known that I love going off on my own to go on trips in far-off places. They know that I am independent and responsible enough to be able to plan my own year in a way that would be very educational (though perhaps not in the conventional sense) and efficient, meaning I would waste as little time as possible. I convinced them that taking a gap year would be valuable as I would grow as a young adult, learning things I could never learn at school while gaining experience that would give me an advantage at school and in future jobs.

MC: How did you arrange your trip, and do your research? Can you share the process with our readers?
LC: I did a LOT of research, mostly online. I picked which areas I wanted to go to (based mostly on vague gut instincts), and from there on I figured out which countries exactly by reading up on the continents (South America and Africa). I found companies and organizations online, and signed up for programs and tours which, with MUCH careful planning, I managed to line up almost consecutively.

MC: What sort of advice would you give a student who is contemplating doing something similar? And would you recommend it for everyone? Please explain.
LC: I would tell them: GO FOR IT! A year in the long term is really not that significant, and a 17 or 18 year old kid doesn’t have much to lose at this point in life. However, they must be prepared that it will be a lot of work and not just a year of bumming around in exotic places. It’s going to take a lot of research, planning and preparation. Think about all the technicalities: you must book flights, find accommodations, buy traveler’s checks, apply for visas, buy insurance… and this is only after you’ve figured out what you want to do, as well as when and where you want to do it! And finally, when the departure date comes, the trip itself will be not only extremely frightening but also utterly exhausting emotionally and physically. But ultimately: so, so worth it.

MC: After having had this incredible six month adventure through seven countries and five biospheres, share with us some deep insight, enlightenment or describe for us how you may have matured beyond your years, as a direct result of your experiences.
LC: There were a few realizations along the way: sudden bursts of thought that had never occurred to me before. For the first time, I sensed how independent a single person was. During the weeks when I was on my own and not on any tour or program, I could be wandering down the streets alone. No one was in charge of me, and therefore no one was worrying for me but me. Not a single person in the whole world could know where I was, or what I was doing, or have any say in what I should do. Before, my life had always been structured. Though it had never felt as though it was being forced upon me, I had never given much thought to the path in life I was to take. However vague it was, it was still there: go to school, get a job. In other words, follow the steps that many, many others have taken before to make something out of their lives. But when I was out there on my own, I felt so much freedom it was rather overwhelming. It was something fresh and exciting, and also scary. I could catch a random bus and get off whenever I felt like it and live the rest of my life in a remote village amongst the locals. We are so accustomed to the social norm that the thought of doing such a thing rarely occurs to any of us. And so simultaneously, we are two things. For one, we are independent beings that in theory could do anything we wanted regardless of anyone around us. At the same time, we are very constrained by what we know and what surrounds us, often not realizing the possibilities in life.

MC: You have an incredible eye and have taken some pretty incredible photographs - in fact Laurel won iCUBED.us' first PHOTO CONTEST in Summer of 2007 - do you plan to pursue photography as a profession? If not, what do you think you'd be interested to do?
LC: Photography is definitely one of my passions and an inseparable part of traveling for me. However I do not think I would ever make it my full time career. No matter what I do as my profession, I can always continue to be a photographer on the side.

MC: Who was the single most amazing person you encountered on this journey? and why.
LC: I can’t really pinpoint it to one person, so it would probably be the staff at the orphanage I worked at in Bolivia. Though it was their job, they worked incredibly hard: they had 12 hours shifts and were in charge of 20 children at a time. If you have ever taken care of a 4 year old, now imagine taking care of 20 at the same time. There were only a few cooks, but three times a day, they fed a couple hundred mouths very nutritious meals. But they always had a smile on their face (though they managed to keep the children in line better than I ever could). They showed the children genuine love, and took care of them well. I was working with one staff member and the 20 four-year-olds we were in charge of. She was amazing. And it wasn’t until a few weeks in that I realized that she was quite pregnant.

MC: If you could BECOME one of the following three people, which one would you choose to be, and exactly why this person and not the others: Anderson Cooper, Ian Wright, or Angelina Jolie.
LC: Hmmm, that is a tough one. Ian Wright is fun loving and gets to do incredible things and meet incredible people – while getting paid! Angelina Jolie seems to be able to do whatever she wants to do: act, be famous, and travel the world with the UN. She manages to raise awareness about the issues in the world while meeting people face to face from the head of the UNHCR to the refugee themselves. However I would probably choose to be Anderson Cooper. His job is to travel the world, and to learn and report about urgent issues. He connects with a wide audience to tell a story and provoke change – people need to know about what goes on in the world, and about what needs to be done. At the age of 17, he went to Africa with a camera and a fake press pass to go try film a story. He has the courage and the initiative to go out and do what he wants, despite the dangers. He goes as close as possible to where the suffering is, with all of his senses engaged, to find out the true story.

Please also read : LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Part 1 - Laurel on NAMIBIA Part 2 - Laurel on Uganda Part 3 - Laurel on Rwanda LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Kachumbe LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Mozambique LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: The Makgadikgadi Pan LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: An Encounter in Tanzania LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: A Zanzibari Misunderstanding LIFE LESSONS - MIND THE GAP! THE GAP YEAR EXPERIENCE!