This may be one of my greatest decisions to date! Most people go to grad school or search for a real-person job after graduating college. Granted, both of these things will likely have to happen at some point in my life but why the rush? All I’ve ever wanted is to live a life of adventure. Real life can wait. So after I’ve walked in my cap and gown and received my diploma in a few weeks, I’m hopping on a plane and leaving the country for Honduras. I landed a divemaster internship on a little island off the coast called Roatàn, and I intend to fully live out my fantasy of being a dive bum. No boring old office for me but thanks.

I am super psyched about this because I have managed to combine two of my passions in life into one awesome package, traveling and scuba diving. I picked up a fierce case of the travel bug last semester when I lived on a ship and circumnavigated the world. There just really is nothing like stepping foot in a place that is completely foreign, from the smells to the sounds, and exploring a new culture, head spinning in circles as you try to take everything in. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about all the crazy adventures I had from the villages of Ghana, to the skyscrapers of Singapore, and the backstreets of Shanghai. Such a life is addicting and yes, I fully intend to fuel that addiction in the Bay Islands for the next few months.

And that brings us to scuba diving, the greatest activity anyone ever came up with. This is probably going to sound identical to my travel rant above, but exploring the ocean and the bizarre world that is under the sea is just as breathtaking as it is thrilling. Descending 60, 80, 100 ft you are left with only the sound of your own breathing, and a world of alien creatures and fantastic sights. Movement is no longer restricted in the same way by gravity and it’s really almost like being in a dream, or traveling to another world entirely. Maybe it all just comes back to travel, but every time I have ever been diving I have always told myself that one day I will be a dive bum. A great thing to aspire to, I know, but hey, doesn’t everyone always say to live your dreams?

So my plans as of current are to fly to Guatemala, explore, cross the border into Honduras and visit the Maya ruins of Copàn, and then make my way to the coast and the island of Roatàn, where I will dive by day and drink piña coladas by night for three months.

Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God ~ Kurt Vonnegut