By: Ulisa Blakely, Work and Travel Services Program Assistant
Okay, get this: you are sitting at a dinner party with all of your friends. You have just returned from the most epic trip abroad, and everyone is DYING to know the foods you tried, hear your stories, and experiences.
After skimming over your experience and showing off some of your newly acquired language skills, the party comes to a lull. Your best friend turns to you and says, “Okay, so tell me how it really was.” You sit there, frantically going through everything that you have done in the last three months. Moments of laughter, sadness, curiosity, doubt, and love flash through your mind like Polaroids in a scrapbook. But you blank out.
There is no way you can explain this great thing that happened to you in just a few sentences. There is no way to capture the feelings and growth you experienced. So what do you do? How could you tell everyone, anyone, your best friend, what it was really like?
Here is how you do it:
- Start a weekly (or daily if you’re the writer type) zine.
- This link shows you how to make a basic zine. All you will need is a sheet of copy paper (8×11) and a pair of scissors and voilà! https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Zine
Create a journal – it can include art, travel, or just your memories. - Travel Journal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePQ-or4YUfk
Don’t want to spend a lot of money on a fancy journal? Cool, me either. Use an old composition or spiral notebook. Good to go! - Ideas for Art Journal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKrdCsihdYs (Artist credit: @fireflyfiphie)
- Daily Journal: Again, use a composition or spiral notebook. Just log those days so you have something to look back on and remember the good moments!
- Take physical pictures or print the ones from your smartphone.
- Collect, Collect, Collect.
- Save the tickets, wrappers, brochures, and any other small paper or card scraps that you get, and make a collage!
- Add these things to your journal – it will create a really cool-looking scrapbook.
Make a time capsule. - Did you ever do a time capsule when you were younger? Another way to collect all of your memories without having to get crafty or artsy. Just grab a jar and stuff it!
- More digitally inclined? Make a podcast, YouTube Channel, or Instagram post to digitally document your life while you are there – IN REAL TIME!
Oh, what a list! The greatest part: these ideas are NOT exclusive to traveling. Got a new job? Moving to a new part of town? Just had a baby? Perfect – this list still applies.
Life passes us by too quickly. Take the time to document what is happening around you and in your life right now. Remember to be present, do more, and share everything you have learned.
There are people out there who are DYING to listen.
Do you have any cool or useful travel tips? How do you save your memories when you go abroad? Share your ideas with us in the Greenheart Club Story Form!