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The first time Daniel Dearden ’19 traveled abroad was to check overseas at Hannam University in South Korea. The non-public Christian college, positioned within the metropolis of Daejeon, has an trade partnership with the University of Lynchburg.
Dearden, a communication research main, selected to spend a semester in South Korea for 2 causes: “Korea was very interesting, and I’m interested in other cultures,” he stated. “[And I’m] a film buff, and I’ve seen a lot of Korean films over the years.”
Dearden is also legally blind and thought learning overseas can be a possibility to problem himself. Up to that time, he’d by no means traveled exterior the U.S., aside from a childhood journey to Canada, and since he doesn’t drive, he’d by no means traveled alone.
“It’s good to have structure and hav[e] people around you to rely on,” he stated, “but when you reach a certain age, you … want to kind of see how far you can go, push your limits. [That was my] main push behind going to Korea: to challenge myself and … break my own expectations for myself.”
Over that semester, Dearden bought all the things he wished for and extra. He mastered the general public transportation system in Daejeon, which has a inhabitants of 1.5 million. If he needed to go climbing, for instance, he didn’t should depend on anybody to get to the trailhead.
“It was very freeing … to be the one in control,” he stated. “The expertise gave me lots of confidence. It was very nerve-wracking, an enormous leap, to be gone for 4 months. To say I used to be nervous can be an understatement, however it was [among] the highest two experiences in my life.
“It really did set in motion that spark for travel and wanting to continue to travel and see the world.”
And journey he did, chalking up 11 international locations so far. Shortly after graduating from Lynchburg, Dearden backpacked almost 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago, or “Way of St. James,” in Spain. It was a do-over of kinds for Dearden, who had tried to hike the two,000-mile Appalachian Trail between his freshman and sophomore years at Lynchburg.
“A lot of things didn’t go as planned and I was pretty tuckered out,” he stated of his AT try, including that climbing the Camino gave him a second likelihood at a long-distance hike.
“The Camino seemed like that middle ground, where you could do some walking but end each day in a hostel-esque environment. You can wash your clothes regularly, go out to eat in town. … I really loved it. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”
After strolling the Camino, Dearden flew to Portugal after which on to Asia, the place he had a sequence of adventures and some misadventures. In Thailand, he ate a scorpion however was additionally clipped by a moped whereas attempting to retrieve his dropped cellular phone from a busy road.
In the Beijing airport, he had what he describes as a “tense confrontation” over an exterior battery in his telephone, and on a flight connection in Iceland, he by chance threw away his boarding go.
“Little, weird stuff like that always happens to me,” Dearden stated, nonchalantly. “I have a bad history in airports.”
Dearden spent the 2019 New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong, the place he stated “thousands and thousands and thousands of people” have been protesting.
“When Hong Kong was combating for its independence from mainland China, to witness the top of that … and being on the streets and seeing individuals put fuel masks on and insurgent within the streets and police vans pulling up. …
“It was a surreal thing to witness. Not really scary, but surreal and powerful.”
This previous summer season, whereas on trip from his job at Liberty University’s on-line Ok-12 faculty, Dearden traveled to Turkey after which on to the Philippines, the place he attended a pal’s marriage ceremony.
He’s hoping for a second journey to Japan in 2026 and probably a 10-year reunion along with his research overseas classmates in Daejeon in 2027. “I’ve come a long way since I started doing this in 2017 with Korea,” Dearden stated.
“I’m studying to take every day a day at a time [and] to not get overwhelmed, as a result of traumatic conditions occur whenever you journey, each time. …
“There’s always something that can happen, but at the end of each trip I always come out of it OK.”
He added that abroad journey has given him a “greater appreciation” of various cultures. “When you see how people live and experience different ways of living, it opens you up to the world,” he stated.
“Coming back with different perspectives is always a good thing.”
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