No Visa, No Escape

Here is the thing. I haven't traveled a lot in my life. 

Sure, I've been in a lot of places in Mexico. I've made a lot of roadtrips inside my country's borders (25 out of 32 states) and I enjoy the mere thought of spending hours on a car listening to music (unless I'm driving and want to arrive ASAP); on a bus trying to read; I even enjoy subway commutes. But then I arrived to Columbia University and met people that apparently have as a hobby to collect countries they have visited. Most of them have more places they have been than fingers (toes included); and no, I didn't feel down or inferior, but surely I had the feeling of missing out something. For me, going to New York to study a Master was as far as I could get.

But that's the thing about crossing borders. Once you give the first step, it becomes easier to keep walking. I wanted to explore the world, learn from it, and take with me valuable experiences, knowledge, and practices. That is one of the reasons I'm in Belarus now.

Since the beginning I knew I would have only a double-entry visa and, loyal to my overly optimistic self, I thought that it would be easy to get a multiple entry visa once I arrived here. I wanted to go to Estonia, to Ukraine, to Latvia, to Poland, to everywhere! During my second week here, we had a day-off and I decided to go to Istanbul; one more check in my to-do list YAY!

After a good time in Turkey, I returned to Belarus and it turns out that Belarusian government is very wary about giving visas to anyone and, what I thought would be a simple procedure has become a path of bureaucracy, paperwork, and certified translations. Belarus has a lot to offer, and I'm planning on discovering its hidden wonders, but I also want to tell myself (and why not, my grandchildren) that at least I can count the places I have been with a FULL hand (and I'm not planning on losing any finger any time soon).

Will I make it to other parts of Europe? Only time (and another one of my posts) will tell.
Will I write about my time in Turkey? Probably.
Will I stop writing about personal stuff and focus on my professional experience at the UNFPA Office? Most likely not. But expect me to write about both.

Will I take better pictures to decorate this blog? I'm doing my best, don't push me.