Where It All Started, Path To 195 Countries

brandonjbk
Jun 11, 2023
4 min read

Updated: Jun 17, 2023

Or, at least working on it:)

I've been wanting to start a blog post about my adventures for some time now. Not sure why it has taken me up to this point? I am actually up to 84 countries thus far. Albeit, I haven't traveled much out of the U.S. since the pandemic. But now that one of the biggest scares in our collective lifetime seems somewhat in the rearview mirror, I'm ready to start to share my story. Bear with me, as this is blog#1 and we have a lot of catching up to do, but let's get started.

How it started...

I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas back in 1974. My older brother and I were from separate fathers, both of which were not ready for marriage. My mother was smart and moved on, wanting a better family for us all. I don't remember much of the south while young, she soon met a strapping young lad from Wisconsin, who swept us up and moved us north where he had a teaching job. Much to the dismay of my grandparents, we landed in a small town in southern WI called Delavan, at one point claimed to be the circus capital of the world! I actually think the Ringling Circus made its last stop north there, so it was a stretch.

Now, during this time there was no internet, no dialup, nothing! Hence, freezing winters was something we thought everyone had. And to walk to and from school was just assumed. We had a great group of neighborhood friends and we collectively utilized our imagination to wonder what the rest of the world would look like? I always had an adventurous spirit, could have been the middle child thing? My younger sister was born by now and we were doing pretty well as a family until my mother fell sick. Without getting into details, it tore our family apart. So, getting out of the house was not an option, it was a necessity. My way out was through education and was fortunate to be accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison. And so on I went, with my all my courage and imagination with me!

Adventure 1: Japan

I had my first opportunity to travel outside of the U.S. in college. I was attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was actually the school's mascot. Yes, I was Bucky Badger for my tenure there. And took the job seriously (although, myself not so much). I spent a summer teaching mascots around the country and was asked to represent the U.S. along with my colleagues Brutus, Sparty, Big Al, Aubie, The Chicken and Goldy in Japan for a summer. We were tasked with the challenge of augmenting the Japanese mascots to more of a western style (e.g. characterization, skits, entertaining the crowds so to speak). So, off I went, Toyko bound!

This is a true story, believe it or not. I was still a typical freshman in college (the photos may provide further evidence of this). And I truly enjoyed the opportunity to train my fellow Japanese mascots on how to get the crowd on their feet. But the benefits to myself, far outweighed anything I may have shared or passed along. How different the culture was from my limited knowledge of other cultures, how people lived their lives, treated one another, and the respect for elders was very much on display for me to absorb.

A few experiences in particular that stand out for me were around the respect towards building a relationship and just how small everything else was compared to the U.S. Prior to leaving, we went through culture training and were made aware of things such as the avoiding scissors as gifts, as this would symbolize severing or a separation with the relationship. It makes sense, but you have to remember that this was during a time when email was just starting to rollout and "google" was not around to quickly to prepare the dos and don'ts of visiting a country. I was fascinated by our training, how to bow and shake hands. I could feel my own character starting to evolve.

Once in country, I was sharing a hotel room with my fellow mascots, and we immediately were fascinated by the shower and restroom. Funny now that I reflect, of all the things to remember! But, it was simple, compressed, and yet satisfied all the basic necessities a group of college mascots would need! Even a can of Coca-Cola was 1/4th the size of what you would see in the U.S. These are literally small things, but made me think about the size, resources, and in some ways waste we had in the U.S. Something that I still carry with me to this day, I'm very careful when ordering a large in the states, LOL

There were a number of adventures and experiences we had. From the beautiful gardens to the night life, and friendships I would establish. I would cherish every moment and am so thankful my first country outside of my own was a high level of divergency. This would later on encourage me to press on to all corners of the earth. With all the pride I have being born in American, I still very much consider myself as a citizen of the world. Its my honor to share these adventures with you. So, come along with me as I spend some time reflecting on the past, sharing plans for the present, and setting my sights for 195 in the future.

194 more to go....