Delaying the Real World
By Colleen Kinder, author of Delaying the Real World
If someone offered you a couple thousand dollars to forgo a full-time job for an adventure, what would you do? I just finished reading through 1,300 proposals written by twentysomethings who are desperate to trade their briefcases for backpacks and hit the open road. They were applicants for the first Delay the Real World Fellowship, a $2,500 award inspired by my new book, Delaying the Real World: A Twentysomething’s Guide to Seeking Adventure.
I wrote the book while I was volunteering in Cuba, after graduating from college, in the hopes that it would inspire more young people to take unconventional paths and live overseas. The book’s popularity proves that our generation is not as straight and narrow as the stereotypes claim.
I worked with my publishing company to create the unique Delay the Real World Fellowship. We intended the award as a ticket to adventure for a gutsy young person who exemplified the spirit of Delaying the Real World. Now that I’ve weeded the mile-high stack of adventure proposals, I can speak for the pipe dreams of my peers. Wanderlust is at an all-time high. Nowadays, young people want to be anywhere in the world but the office cubicle.
The fellowship contest drew the widest spectrum of applicants imaginable, from college seniors craving adventures in Thailand to overworked bankers eager to study yoga in India. We heard from soldiers returned from Iraq and best friends planning zany road trips. They wrote from Berea, Kentucky; Seoul, South Korea; and everywhere in between. While University of Wisconsin at Madison might have earned the award for “the most anti-cubicle student body” for their high number of applicants, we received appeals from students and graduates nationwide.
HOT SPOTS
I noticed a few common themes among the proposals. First of all, the South Pacific seems to exert a magnetic pull on our generation. Australia is by far the most popular choice; New Zealand was a close runner up. Those looking to experience more exotic and budget-friendly lands proposed trips to Southeast Asia.
The lands of Latin America have a strong appeal, the focus of which is unquestionably Costa Rica, spreading out to Mexico and creeping into Brazil, where capoeira has replaced Argentine tango as the new intrigue. Africa’s diverse nations are certainly on the radar of young Americans, particularly those interested in volunteer projects or education work.
EUROPE STILL POPULAR
While young people are looking far beyond their borders for adventure, they haven’t ruled out the classic travel experiences. Backpacking Europe is as popular as ever. In fact, judging from the number of graduating seniors who proposed sojourns through the “old country,” the European backpacking adventure has become the capstone of the college experience.
One type of trip I was surprised to come across so frequently was the heritage trip. A remarkable number of young people want to trace their roots back to the country of their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents. These proposals often had a creative spin to them, like traveling to Sicily to write a children’s book about the Italian immigrant’s experience or making a documentary in Poland about an inspirational grandparent. Other heritage trips had an altruistic purpose, like traveling to Uganda to volunteer in the small town of the individual's origins.
THE WINNING PROPOSAL
In fact, it was the volunteer proposals that inspired our fellowship committee the most. It is hard to read through a pile of projects relating to AIDS relief, literacy campaigns, children’s health, education for the developmentally disabled, and so on, without believing in the compassion and vision of our generation. Ultimately, that was why we chose our winner, Alex Katona, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, who is already fighting to bring equity to farmers and artisans in Ecuador.
Underlying every one of these 1,300 proposals was an aching for freedom and unscripted adventure. After years of full course loads, part-time jobs, and schedules that leave little room for the free-spirit, twentysomethings want to take charge of their own educations for a couple of years and see as much of the world as a shoestring budget allows. In the case of the bold young idealist we plucked from the pile, her dream will come to fruition.
As for the rest, I’m optimistic. Where there’s a will to delay the real world, there’s always a way.
Visit www.delayingtherealworld.com to learn more about Colleen Kinder’s book (Running Press, 2005, $12.95) and the Delay the Real World Fellowship.