Throwing myself thousands of miles from home using only my suburban-dwelling wits and clothes on my back to survive sounded like the best graduation gift to myself, so I thought why not?

I’ve been hit with wanderlust for a while now, seeing and hearing about friends multi-month adventures only ignited it even more, coupled with the fact that I’m now out of school there’s no better time to do this. There’s only so much academics can teach me! I’ve done some pretty extensive traveling throughout Canada (and to a lesser extent the States), and had some absolutely memorable trips, but I’ve never been off the continent. So August 21 is when I hit the skies solo.

I thought Central and Southeast Europe would be some good culture shock. Better brush up on my Cyrillic. That’s the number one question I get asked is why these places? I know these countries receive thousands of tourists every year, but I kind of wanted to go somewhere a little off the beaten path. I wanted to experience some culture shock, throw myself out of my comfort zone. The history of these places is extensive and I’m looking forward to experiencing it firsthand.

You got the Who, What, When, and Why and you can check out the Where here. But here’s the list:

Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia & Herz., Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Turkey.

I’m extremely fortunate to have a job that offered me a leave of absence so I could do this with a lot more confidence. I’m stoked for the challenge, to learn about the places I’m visiting, learn about myself, and most importantly: kick it with others and drink some good beer.