The Atlas of Experience was a very creative way for me to interact with the class material on a more emotional level. I have grown up in an educational system that was very strict, left no space for creativity. If it wasn’t in a book, you didn’t mention it. All my previous school experience before TRU limited my ability to express myself. Coming here made me grow and learn to take things with ease and learn to explore other things. When the decision to take classes online was made, I broke down thinking it wont be interactive. In my class TMGT 3020, i learned that there is always a way to engage with material.

The Atlas was such a smart way to help me discover parts of myself. It took me about an hour to pick a destination. For every destination I saw, I thought about it for around 3 minutes. I wrote down the name, thought of an experience and moved on. It made me reflect on my previous patterns and current ones. By the end of the quiz, I knew I chose something to help encourage me stepping out of my comfort zone. Sometimes its confusing to find yourself while you’re under certain circumstances. You want to travel and see the world, be free and exist. But you’re held down by reality and responsibility.

Although I am someone who loves to travel with friends and family, I have decided my next trip (post Covid) will be a solo trip. I do not know where to go yet, but I’m still saving for it anyway. Seeing all those emotions and thought slayed out on a map felt like a life check moment. I did some personal research on how our travel patterns relate to our personality types. The result did not surprise me, as tourism and travel are basically based of the study of consumer motives and perception. I have travelled with friends around BC and Canada, and still felt unfulfilled. So this helped me understand that its not the trip that is issue, but it is how i need to experience it. So maybe, in the near future, i will develop new solo hobbies and activities. This has motivated me to learn how to connect with myself before connecting with a destination.