I remember graduating in October 2017 with no job offers or graduate school plans. However, I also remember the feeling of being so young and it was like the possibilities were endless. For a moment there it felt like I could do anything I wanted, as far as changing the world. I definitely am not exaggerating, and those who believed that their minds have been broadened wide by all the volunteering hours and model UN simulations during college years would relate. That also fueled me and my group of friends to take a 12-hour drive road trip to the eastern part of the island in December 2017.
We were a hopeful group of youth, we wanted to leave an impact. Becoming a corporate slave wasn’t a choice, because we wanted to create something from scratch. I’m not going to write down what we were planning to create out of that trip, but just imagine the spirits of four young fresh graduates with their idealistic minds and idealistic world—we were far more ambitious than Zuckeberg when he snitched the idea of Facebook from the Winklevoss twins (or at least that’s what I saw on the movie, though). It didn’t take long to plan out, we did a bit of research and preparation then we grabbed our stuff and shoved it to the very back of the car. I’ve been on a longer road trip before—the trip from Sioux Falls to Chicago a year before was taking the whole 20 hours, but that one didn’t involve narrow roads or trying to overtake gigantic trucks and buses.
The village was still very much in its original state—everything feels like it’s blending with nature. The lake was magical and terrifying at the same time. The people were nice, and I don’t know if the universe was pretty supportive towards us because the weather was perfect for the whole week. Electricity was available from 6pm to 6am, because the people will go attending their farms or fishing during the day. Our alarm sound in the morning was the Hornbill bird’s call from deep inside the forest (or as the guy from WWF whose house we were staying at, told us—hornbills are extremely rare nowadays, as their status is now endangered species).
To this day, I’m thankful for the fire that fueled our spirits and ambitions, pushing us to go on that trip without any hesitation. Maybe it is common for young adults to have confidence within themselves that they do have the capabilities of doing big things, or maybe it was just us—I remember how I loved all of our meetings and brainstorming sessions. I remember the late night get-together jamming into rap music, scribbling down ideas and rough sketches, falling asleep on the floor with pizza crumbs on our hair.
