How I Experienced a Personal Renaissance on a Month’s Stay in Eastern Europe

And why you should travel alone, too.

I’ll never forget this line from literature:

“You can only truly experience culture in two ways: by immersing yourself in its environment, engaging your five senses and taking everything in through observation and conversation, and by allowing its literature to enrich your imagination with vivid pictures and ideas of its character.”

In 2018, I went on a four-week trip to Eastern Europe to volunteer for an after-school program in Kraków, Poland. From 4–8 PM each day, I would play with the kids or organize an activity to teach them about Philippine culture.

Throughout the time, I shared a hostel room with other volunteers from Hong Kong, Germany, America, India, and the Middle East. During weekends, I would take an overnight bus to travel to nearby Austria, Budapest, Prague, and Poland’s Gdansk.

An assortment of novel experiences, rich reflection time, and mingling with different cultures led to a profound sense of inner clarity. I wish to share what I discovered about myself, what new convictions I gained, and how I endeavor to respond to life from now on. Do read and reminisce with me.

Travel as Metamorphosis

The catalytic richness of travel arises when one does it thoughtfully–reflecting on her impressions, watching out for anything that strikes her curiosity and making sure her thirst for understanding is satisfied.

When one becomes a lone stranger in a foreign place, she is forced out of her comfort zone. She needs to ask for directions, share a space with someone, make small-talk to shake off the noise in her mind.

She finds herself with people who have completely different values from hers. She adjusts to new habits and mannerisms, such as the peculiar way of greeting a stranger in the elevator or asking for the bill in a restaurant. Her worldview is tested, shaken, and in the end, strengthened by pruning.

She constantly faces uncertainty — not knowing what will greet her after getting off the subway exit. She sees what is cultural and what is universal. She is led to question her own values, cutting them down to bare necessities.

Travel transforms.

Travel as a Means to Independence

The more I travel with intention, the more I trust my unique way of seeing the world. I begin to shed my timid Asian skin, no longer intimidated by strong opinions. With a beginner’s mind, I dare question to not only understand the world better but myself, too.

Something about my time spent in Europe kindled a radical self-assurance. Perhaps it was the characteristic of candor among Western cultures–-the propensity to hold close to one’s opinion and boldly disagree with others. It might have been the rich and colorful history that expanded my sense of time and reality. Maybe it was standing before magnificent works of art, striking my soul awake. All these elements blended together to create a spring of internal energy from which I draw to this day.

I never slumped back to paralyzing self-doubt since. I am more accepting of criticism, hence, more creative and empowered to reach ambitious heights.

What then, if not pride, does independence bring? Apart from pursuing one’s potential without the permission of circumstance, it brings about integrity — a system that aligns thought, speech, and deed. That system develops by constant reflection. It is open for pruning.

Travel is not a means to escape. It is a springboard to new possibilities of the mind, heart, and soul.

Travel for Self-Actualization

My increased confidence in my identity became evident in the act of writing. A profound sense of liberty dawned on my creative expression. I was a rustic fruit whose thick and dirty layers slowly peeled away, leaving only a golden seed that was thrust into the soil to germinate anew.

I am no longer at the mercy of external pressure to create out of a desire for an audience. Only recently did I begin to fully embrace this passion, acknowledging that there might never be a large audience for my writing. Despite that, it will be okay because I write for myself, and the moment I take that to heart and rally all my energies toward making that happen, my art will begin to flourish.

I needn’t have a clear goal. I just need an orientation, a North Star, knowing that I can always turn to it whichever winding path I go down on, whichever detour I wish to take.

Since I have ‘set my writing free’, I have constructed a magnetic pull for uncanny ideas. Creativity seems to pour in at most unlikely moments, and I make it a point to grab valuable thoughts by the tail before they run away and vanish.

The artist is never fully confident in her work. She knows it will always be far from sublime. But she is satisfied with what she created enough to accept the imperfection. Thus, she shares it with the world without expectation and experiences joy in the process — enough to fill her soul.

I am moved to explore my inner universe. I am ready to assert and not silence myself for others’ convenience.

Travel as Mimesis

Nothing in my trip moved me more than the people I met did. What about them affected me so much that they caused inner refinement? Perhaps it was their authentic individualism.

They did not fashion their behavior from social pressure. They were not afraid to speak their minds, at the same time, to listen to ideas completely unlike their own. Their curious attempts to get to know me forced me to reflect on the things they asked about. They shared unfamiliar perspectives on familiar things and discussed with me topics I have never pondered on in my entire life. They made me wonder, I’ve always known myself to be peculiar in certain ways, why am I ashamed of being that out in the open? Why do I filter myself?

Since then, I understood what it was like to focus on my own pace. I ceased comparing myself to people who are more accomplished, more wealthy, more intelligent than I (or at least, know when to self-correct).

I began to embrace my unique combination of God-given abilities. I relish the opportunities my strengths allow me to pursue. For the first time, I became content with being myself fully.

Travel as Renaissance

Upon wandering along with the settings of the Renaissance–admiring its detailed pillars, colorful ceilings, and majestic symphonies, I underwent a Renaissance of my own--a grand exploration of my nature, a period of questioning and aligning with myself through frequent internal dialogue.

I wouldn’t call it a spiritual experience. It was rather an over-extended honeymoon with my thoughts.

It seems like there is some truth about myself, about others, and about the world waiting to be discovered in each novel environment. As if, upon my immersion, I pick up a puzzle piece that better forms the picture of my inner world — the best version of myself I could be. This time, however, is special, because I found my centerpiece. From it, it is easier to connect other pieces.

Staying put in one place leaves one at the mercy of its society’s dictations and keeps her from discovering what she is truly capable of. Though knowledge is important, nothing can be more powerful in shaping hearts and minds than cultural immersion. Thus, I wish to tell the reader two things:

• If you have yet to travel on your own in a foreign place, then a part of yourself is waiting to be discovered. Whether you could live with that is entirely up to you.
• If you have the privilege to travel but have not yet done so alone, with an open and absorptive mind, then you have not fully embraced the riches such experience can bring. Whether you could live with that is entirely up to you.

Throughout my short stay, my soul was lifted to a higher plane. I acquired in a month’s time what might have been years’ worth of realizations had I kept the status quo. And for that, I am grateful.

Hannah To is an entrepreneur and creative educator. She writes about thinking, productivity, and lifelong learning. Stay in touch! ✨

Also, if you enjoyed this article, consider joining Medium for $5 / month for access to unlimited articles. If you sign up using this link, you support the author as she earns a small commission.

If you want to read more of my writings, check out the following articles.

• 11 Ways To Travel With Purpose
• The Power of Being Intentional
• Away With the Social Media Detox!
• Three Things You Can Do To Build A Connection With Art

You can share your outstanding stories and inspire others. Just click the below image and be a writer for The Masterpiece.