What is happiness? This is a question that has plagued philosophers and common people alike since the dawn of human thought. I would define happiness as being content with your surroundings. For me, happiness entails a few things. For one, I enjoy traveling. I love visiting new places and learning more about the world; Earth is too big for me to stay in one place. There’s too much history and culture to 
appreciate. One day, I would like to visit every country. I also enjoy learning about history, geography, and languages. All of these are intertwined with my love of traveling and were my best subjects in high school. I’ve always been fascinated with world history and how the world got to be where it is today; I’ve also always been curious about the differences between languages. As an American, I’ve grown up only speaking one language and combined with my global aspirations, I’ve found learning not just how to understand languages, but also the history behind them to be very interesting.
I also enjoy things many other kids my age enjoy. I love playing and watching sports, watching movies and television, and being around nature. I played water polo in high school and was fortunate enough to be a part of several great teams. I’ve always enjoyed playing basketball and football. I love movies such as The Godfather and Pulp Fiction along with TV shows like Narcos, Narcos Mexico, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. What makes me happy when watching these is that I am able to take a step out of my normal life and see a perspective of a different lifestyle; I’m able to immerse myself in a fictional setting that is very different from my reality.
There are many things that bring me joy, but at the end of the day, living a different life than other people is what would make me the happiest. Last year, I took a gap year and was fortunate enough to have the ability to travel and do many exciting things. Most American kids my age don’t do things like this so I enjoyed the fact that I was doing something outside of our cultural norm. I have considered two topics for this blog. One would be a a blog about travel consisting of some stories I have about past travels but also about future trips to plan. Another idea is a blog about my progression in Spanish. During quarantine, I worked very hard to improve my Spanish speaking and comprehension skills to point where I have just begun to speak fluently. I think it would be very interesting to chronicle my improvement throughout the year in a forum like this. I look forward to continuing this blog about my passions and to learn about the devotions of others.
The last airbender is a great show, truly makes you feel young again. Both ideas for the blogs seem interesting. The idea of reminiscing about traveling in a time of quarantine might a great documentation of your travels.
We seem to have very very similar interests and passions. I have always found traveling to be one of life’s greatest pleasures and I plan to travel as much as I can during my lifetime. As you said, it is not just the travel that is so intriguing to me, but the history of the places I travel to. I love emerging myself into different cultures and learning how a country came to be. I am excited to hear about your past travels and where you are planning on going in the future!
I always like reading about subjects that I share an interest in. It’s refreshing to see someone else interested in similar shows and movies as I am, especially Narcos and The Godfather.
Love your taste in shows and cinema and its nice to see people appreciate traveling and culture. I’ve traveled to some countries and being there can really change your perception and leave you with a better understanding of the world and yourself.