I’ve been to many places growing up,

From jackfruit trees and crystal clear lagoons

To white sand beaches and wandering pigs

To the City of Love.

I’ve been across blue waters and to different lands.

I got to see new things 

and have new experiences.

I’m young and have more to see,

People to meet, foods to try,

And goals to achieve.

I want to experience it all.

I want to see the world,

The snow-capped mountains

And dark green pine trees that cover Banff.

The time-holding and towering sequoia trees in California,

Whose trunks claw the ground,

Too big for me to wrap my arms around them.

The white-stoned and blue-domed town of Santorini, Greece

That overlooks the Aegean Sea,

Complementing the clear blue sky and lighting up the starry night 

In soft hues of yellow and orange.

I want to learn the world’s tongues,

French, Bicol, Tagalog, Spanish, and Korean.

Connecting with other people

And sharing ideas that can’t be said in English.

Gigil, Pochemuchka, Fargin, L’esprit de l’escalier, يقبرني.

Experiences, experiences, experiences.

There’s so much, yet I forget,

Buried under the stress from school,

Life, and the future.

Stuck in my head, I forget

But I don’t want to

Because existing is not living.