My First Year Out So Far – Travel Edition

You graduated in May and while that may feel like eons ago, it’s only been about seven months.

So we asked ourselves, what have some of you been up to in that time? We know a lot of you travel after graduation, whether to blow off some steam or gain new perspectives. Post grad life can be overwhelming, so why not travel if you can?

With that in mind, we are kicking off a new series: My First Year Out So Far – Travel Edition. Two of your classmates, Haley Sparks and Carly Sternberg, traveled to South East Asia for three months this summer and shared their experiences below.

As we wrap up 2017, we may need a little reminder that we are ultimately all in this together.

Reflection 1 – Haley

My name is Haley Sparks and I graduated from UVM in May of 2017 with a major in Secondary Education and a minor in Special Education. In a nutshell, my UVM experience was everything I hoped it would be and more. I loved everything about the school, the atmosphere, the people, and the city of Burlington. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah now and while I like it here, I still find myself thinking of Vermont everyday.

Carly and I met freshman year of college and quickly became best friends. After that, we always planned to take a big backpacking trip together after we graduated. We are both avid travelers and originally wanted to spend some time traveling around Europe, but eventually decided to take 3 months to travel around Asia to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka. Carly had spent some time previously in Thailand, but I never had.

Our itinerary was built as a combination of places we wanted to visit because of their beauty, their people, their food, and the experiences they offered that we knew we wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. Although 3 months may seem like a long time to live out of a backpack, we both wanted to genuinely experience each country and get a feel for all the places we visited. Planning our trip from July-October and taking our time in each place seemed like the best way to do that.

I have zero regrets about taking this trip right after graduating college. While many of our friends were getting ready to enter the “workforce,” we were lucky enough to be buying plane tickets and planning itineraries.

After finishing 4 years of college, there seemed like no better reward than an eye-opening trip around the world. My last semester of college was a busy and stressful one, and this trip provided me the motivation I needed to finish on a strong note. Post graduation also seemed like the perfect time to take this trip because I’m genuinely unsure if there will ever be another time in my life where I will have the ability to take this much time just to travel and enjoy life and the world.

Having the ability to design and plan those 3 months of time however we wanted was something I had never experienced before and it was empowering and enlightening. With no restraints such as school or jobs or anywhere to be, we were totally flexible to do whatever we wanted.

This trip was a whirlwind and we packed in a little bit of everything. We were lucky enough to experience beaches, lakes, oceans, rivers, mountains, city life, and farm life. Each day was different than life at home, and I find myself reminiscing about it often. Traveling for 3 months out of a backpack taught me to appreciate necessities over luxuries and it taught me how to live with barely anything.

Besides that, it taught me that each country we visited was a totally different experience, and whenever we landed in a new place, we had to adjust to a totally new culture. Doing this kept me constantly on my toes and it kept me constantly wondering, navigating, and thinking. It taught me how to interact with anyone, no matter how strong the language barrier might be. It taught me that while the world might seem huge, there is always people that can make anywhere feel like home.

Reflection 2 – Carly

Staring at that piece of paper that I received after walking across the stage in front of Waterman last May, the single piece of paper documenting the major in global studies and minors in Spanish and Economics that I had completed, the world suddenly felt more overwhelmingly huge than it ever had before.

During my time at UVM, the world sometimes felt like it only extended across Lake Champlain and to the peak of Mount Mansfield. Campus had a way of absorbing me into its super charged atmosphere and making me feel larger than life, part of something that was big and moving forward. With that piece of paper in my hand, all of the sudden it felt like I was in a huge limbo.

There was nowhere that I needed to be, nothing that I had to be doing, and so I went to roam throughout Southeast Asia for three months with my best friend and I don’t think there could have been a better time to do it.

I spent 4 years learning about the world and how we might begin to understand its reality, yet I got a clearer vision of the world and myself over my three months in Southeast Asia than I ever had before. Everyday was brand new. My mind was being stretched to take in all of the sights and colors and smells that I had never experienced before.

One day I was stuck knee deep in a rice paddy in the middle of a monsoon, a few days after that I was deciding whether or not to continue on to the Annapurna base camp after my eyes had swollen shut to the size of meatballs, and a few weeks later I was being put in charge of 20 infants in the middle of a red light district in Kolkata.

The trip was a shock to the system.

Before graduation I was sitting in the library studying for my last set of finals and suddenly felt my heart start to race as I fully grasped the fact that life as it was right then, and as it had been for the past four years would never ever be the same again. The trip showed me that all though this post-grad period can be a bit of a directionless limbo, I’m not stuck and I should never have to feel stuck.

The earth we live on is a miraculous place with an infinite number of things happening every second, there are endless possibilities. I learned that even though I have never felt so old, I really am so so young. I learned to trust and have faith in my fellow humans of the earth, and that I am never truly alone. I figured out that this thing called life is forgiving, it doesn’t have to be all that serious, there’s so much room to mess up, to learn, and to grow.

So I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but I am now living in Salt Lake City, teaching skiing, surrounding myself with new, exciting and beautiful things, and just living life as a 23 year old in 2017, figuring it out as I go.

Want to feature your own travel story? Know a friend who might want to as well? Click the button below and refer a friend (or yourself). We’ll see you in the new year!

Cheers,

Ryan and Kathryn

Thank You Class of 2016!

Hey 2016ers, thank you for following along the past 16 months. Yes, it is time for us to say goodbye, but only in the form of weekly posts.

We get how you feel.

Image result for luke skywalker i am your father gif

We want you to know that this is the last post we will write specifically for you Class of 2016.

Why? Our job was to help you transition from being a student to a UVM alum and you’ve done that (mostly without our help)! We hope this blog has helped a little bit with that transition and given you some inspiration and a few chuckles along the way.

We hope you’ll stay connected to UVM.

One of the best ways to do that is to make sure your contact information is up to date. That way we know where to send event invitations and other UVM-related items. You can update your contact information here.

Don’t forget about being social!

UVM is on LinkedIn (UVM Alumni Association), Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@uvmvermont). So be sure to follow along.

We’ve had a lot of fun writing for and getting to meet some of you and we once again wish you all the best.

If you want to stay in touch, email us at ryan.chartier@uvm.edu or kathryn.meader@uvm.edu. We’d love for you to share your first year out story with the class of 2017 or ’18 and beyond.

Image result for to infinity and beyond gif

Before we go, we made a little goodbye video featuring all of the folks we work with here at Alumni House wishing you well. We hope you enjoy, and, stop by anytime!

A Farewell to the Class of 2016 from UVMF on Vimeo.

Best,

Ryan ’10 and Kathryn ’15

Making Your First Loan Payment – 2017 Edition

Yep. It’s finally arrived. For many of you, your first loan payment is this month.

 kramer GIF

We get it. Even though it has been in the back of your mind for a while now, it still feels like a surprise.

But never fear, if you plan ahead and get organized, you won’t feel like this:

Image result for confused math lady

In fact, as an added bonus we are marking this occasion with a special giveaway: A free UVM Alumni Association bottle opener! You’ve earned it! Read on below for some helpful tips for making your first payment.

(Yes, these are all soft drinks – never doubt the refreshing power of a rhubarb seltzer)

If you are anything like us, when our first loan payment arrived, we went through a lot of emotions…

“No way, this can’t be happening already, I just graduated.”

“It’s a conspiracy I tell you!”

“Just give me a few more months then I’ll be ready to start paying, I promise.”

“It can’t be true…”

“I’m still upset, but I realize this is just one more step in being a real adult.”

With this in mind, here are five essential things you should do before making your first payment – because Afterword has your back.

  1. Read this article to get started understanding your loans.
  2. Get Organized. Figure out if you have federal loans or private loans (or both) and how many. It’s probably easiest to ask your parents, look at old mail, or check your email — you loan provider has almost certainly tried to contact you by now.
  3. Pick a repayment plan. There are several types and many loans have an option for income-based repayment.  Also, if you are in grad school, make sure to defer your loans.
  4. Don’t make your payment late. They are already going to get enough of your money. Don’t give them any extra.
  5. Get Your Free UVM Alumni Association Bottle Opener. Open your favorite Vermont beverage with it, sink into your couch, and start a Netflix binge. You earned it. (We personally chose some favorite maple and rhubarb seltzer).

A Special Video Message for the Class of 2017

Hi all,

Still haven’t registered for your upcoming class party at Alumni House on Friday, October 6th? As we mentioned a few weeks back, it’s gonna be lit, but to maximize the fun we need your help!

Make sure to get in touch with your friends, and bring them along! We want you all to have a great time, and nobody has fun at a party where you don’t know anyone.

Check out our quick video to see what we mean.

 

A Public Service Announcement from the UVM Alumni Assocation from UVM Foundation on Vimeo.

Register now! We can’t wait to see you (and all your friends) there!

Cheers,

Ryan and Kathryn

You are Invited to a Party at Alumni House!

In July we asked you what kind of events you’d like to attend and the overwhelming majority said: happy hours.

Well, we heard you loud and clear, and we are going a step further and throwing a party for you at Alumni House on Friday, October 6 during Alumni Weekend.

Oh and did we mention it’s free?

That’s right, gather your friends and drop by Alumni House to get your weekend started right.

Date: Friday October 6

Time: 9:00pm (drop by before you head downtown)

Location: UVM Alumni House (61 Summit Street, right near campus)

The fun part: If you register (for free), your first two drinks are on us!

Below are four quick tips for getting you through the registration form in under a minute:

1. Select Alumni Weekend and click “let’s get started” that will take you to this page where you’ll fill out your information.

2. Select the Class of 2017 package.

3. Add any friends you plan to bring with you (just an FYI, if you add someone, there are a few more steps that you will need to complete). And don’t worry, you can still bring a friend even if you don’t fill this section out!

4. Select your Alumni Weekend Package and scroll to the bottom and click next to submit your form.

That’s it!! See you on October 6!