5,649 kilometers away from home. 12 days away. The longest and farthest I’ve ever been away from home. I returned from my trip to Vietnam covered in bruises, cuts and ripped skin on my hands and fingers, and a perspective on life that made me who I am today.

In early 2020, global pandemic pending, I took a trip to Vietnam along with my peers and teachers. In the weeks leading up, my stomach was in knots of excitement and anticipation. These knots slide over each other, evoking pangs of giddiness, swirling for weeks, building momentum, displaying a permanent smile on my face. As those weeks came to a close and I sat in the car on the way to the airport, I felt a sense of dread seeping in. The prospect of the physical and emotional labour that lay ahead of me caused the knots in my stomach to turn sickly, filling my body with regret and fear. I knew I had to push through it. I spent the first week in the beautiful, vibrant village of Mai Chau with the Hoang family, building a house alongside my peers that this family continues to live in today; we created a stable foundation, split bamboo to create flooring, and nailed wooden panels in place to create walls. I played with their son, who had taught me how to play rock, paper, scissors (the much cooler Vietnamese version) as I shared my banana with him. I bonded with my peers as our skin was rubbed raw, muscles aching, hair tangled and fingernails encased in dirt. We helped each other up at the end of the day, laughed late into the night and celebrated birthdays with just a cupcake.

When these 7 days had passed and utter exhaustion had become my body’s new normal, I still sat with a smile on my face because all the physical pain my body endured vanished the second I looked into the eyes of this family as we handed over the metaphorical keys to their new home. The mother’s eyes pooled with tears causing the ones I held in mine to spill. I suddenly felt the weight of my privilege. I’ve been afforded a lot of things in my life and after bonding with this family I’ve learnt to never take that for granted. The little boy I had been playing with spent his days with me because he couldn’t go to school. The weight of that is something I hold with myself to this day. If I could not give him an education I am proud that I was able to give him a home to grow up in. As we parted with the family, I realised how grateful I will always be for the kindness and care they showed me; how they have taught me an important lesson in appreciation and how I will always strive to use the privileges I’ve been given to make a real difference in the lives of others. I hope to visit them one day and thank them in person for the gift they’ve given me.

That same day, we packed our belongings and headed on a bus ride to the effervescent city that is Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. We spent a couple of hours here to relax before we headed to the airport to go to Da Lat for a strenuous 4-day trek in the mountains. As we board the plane, anxiety began to swirl in my stomach once again. I wasn’t prepared for what the next 4 days would hold for me. We land and check into the resort we would be resting in for the night, my friend and I are sitting on our hotel beds checking off things on a checklist for all the things we would need while camping and trekking in the mountains for the next 4 days. I suddenly get a call from my parents, I pick up and they called to wish me good luck for the trek, and I instantly felt my heart drop to my stomach. It was that same feeling I had felt before coming to Vietnam. It was too late to back out of this now but all I could think was “What have I gotten myself into? Will I be able to do this?”

The next morning I woke up with only three hours of sleep, and on the bus ride to the starting point, I think about giving up before we even started and even though it was too late now. My trekking group and I try to distract ourselves by playing the games we would play as children, such as ‘I spy with my little eye’. In reality, I don’t think that our method of distraction was working but we had tried to convince ourselves that it was. Once we arrive at the starting point and begin our trek, the sun starts to rise and it’s immediately scorching hot and the groups' spirits are already low, so I decided that we should play some music to motivate us to continue with as little breaks as possible to the campsite. The faster we got there the better. We all walk uphill along to the song “Break My Stride” by Mathew Wilder trying to manifest the lyrics of the song into reality. We reach the campsite in the evening as the sun is setting and immediately set up our tents to rest. After making our instant noodles for dinner, my friends and I get into our tents gossiping about how much drama our year group had already had after only one day of trekking and we eventually fell asleep. We wake up early the next day to finish our second day of walking uphill. The trek wasn’t going as bad as we all thought, there was slight rain that day and our bodies began to ache, but we all enjoyed it as we got to experience walking through a forest for the first time after living in a desert our whole lives. The smell of the rain that day was unforgettable. It smelt musky and fresh, exactly like how the books I would read had described. The second night was a repeat of the night before. We all had the same meals and sat around the fire to dry our clothes that were wet from the rain, before going to bed.

The third day of the trek had begun, and this is where everything had gone downhill. This day was the day that we had started our descent down the mountain. Everybody’s bodies were aching and every step we took caused us pain so our pace was slower than usual. At around midday, my group and I had misread the map and compass, and we had ended up taking a wrong turn. It was only until half an hour of walking in the wrong direction that we noticed. Our moods had completely flipped and we all felt defeated and disappointed in ourselves. When we reached the campsite, it was humiliating. At that point, we had been the only group that had gotten lost and all of our classmates had run up to us questioning how we got lost. It was the most overwhelmed I had ever felt. The second my friends and I had built our tent and got in it, we all looked each other in the eyes and tears started streaming down our faces out of exhaustion and embarrassment.

Since it was our last night, my teachers hosted a mini talent show around the campfire as the sun set for my year group. Even though my friends and I were dreading doing this due to the day we had, we decided to suck it up and decided to create a parody rap to the tune of “Best Song Ever” by One Direction. We decided to make the lyrics of the rap a recap of the entire trip so far. We included our house building project, exploring Hanoi, the trek thus far, and lastly, as we climbed through the forests on the mountain, we had help from local Vietnamese tour guides who our school hires every year the trip has taken place. Every year, one of the tour guides named Hung spends his birthday with our school, and so we dedicated a lyric to him at the end. As soon as we participated in this talent show and performed, just like before, all of my stress was relieved and I forgot about all the hardships I faced. We also ended up winning the talent show and received some chocolate, which was much needed after eating instant pasta and noodles for three days straight.

Looking into my friends’ eyes as we walked to the finish line on the last day, I realised something very important: sometimes you require the support of others to grow into a stronger person; just as we constructed the stable foundation of the Hoang house, my peers and I created a secure support system throughout this trip that helped me overcome every challenge I faced; I felt a sense of belonging. The anxiety that had swirled in my stomach diminished knowing I had surrounded myself with such kindhearted people. Although they may not be in my life every day anymore, we showed each other compassion that I will remember forever.

5,649 kilometers away from home. 12 days away. The longest and farthest I’ve ever been away from home. This trip helped me become more grateful and accepting. I’m passionate about imprinting these qualities on future generations so I will hold these lessons with me as I take on life’s next challenge.