I decided to call this travel blog "Wait, what?" because that's how people (myself included) respond when they find out about the Bonderman Fellowship. They may be surprised that I am a recipient of this award, but I think more than anything, we're all just in awe that it is a thing that exists at all.
Allow me to explain.
The Bonderman Fellowship is a program in which recipients are awarded $20,000 which must be used toward an 8-month international travel adventure that includes at LEAST six countries in at LEAST two different regions of the world. Oh, and you have to go by yourself. Your reasons for wanting to travel can be basically anything, but they should be personal rather than professional. This trip is not about advancing your career through formal research or education; it's not even about trying to serve the communities you visit through volunteering. It is a beautifully, oddly, almost suspiciously objective-free award; we aren't expected to produce anything at the end of it. Each individual student traveler may have personal objectives, but nothing in particular is being asked of us except to be open to personal growth through travel and the unique discomforts, revelations, and perspective-shifting abilities it offers.
"Wait, what?"
Exactly. I can hardly believe it's a thing either.
Read more about the Bonderman Fellowship, offered through the University of Washington to 7 graduate students and 7 Honors Undergraduate students each year, here: http://bonderman.uw.edu