Urban Sketcher

Chapter 1

Life is an adventurre.

A rollercoaster filled with turns, twists and opportunities. As a man, who goes by the name Forest Gump once said- "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get inside". It's cheesy, I know. But I believe it.

Over the course of my lifetime I have experienced positive and negative circumstances, I have made my own choices and they have sculpted and shaped me into who I am today. I have no regrets as I believe what's in the past is in the past, you cannot go back and re- do it or make things better. It hapened, now move on and make plans and set goals.

Growing up I was a normal, happy girl. My parents were always suppourtive of me and I loved them as they loved me. My Mother and Father's love is real, they never divorced or split up, unlike quite a few of my friends whose parents were divorced. As I grew up and my parents aged witih me- By the age of 14, I knew I wanted to travel. I didn't want to settle young. I wanted to live. To create my own story, not another copy of my parents story.

My parents actually had my life planned out for me, they told me where I was going to go and what I was to study and learn. At all costs I wasn't going to have it. I began to rebel against them (Not involving drugs or alcohol or anything like that), I wasn't happy with what they were telling me, I wanted to follow my heart and dreams rather then follow theirs! So.... That's exactly what I did.

By the age of 17 I was desperate to get out of school and leave. I wanted to go see the world. See new cultures different to my own. Venture off into unknown lands unseen by many people. To feel the sensation of adrenaline and thrill as I see a new landscape or a new culture and try something new. To me life wasn't about staying in one place, but rather going many places and getting out of your comfort zone.

On the first day of junior year, school started and people began rushing into high school for a new year whilst I on the other hand; I was in a jeep roadtripping to London with my best friend Ty. Our parents completely unaware of our whereabouts, we continued. Of course, I didn't have my drivers license then and niether did Ty, So we basically broke the law, we broke two rules. Ditching school and driving without a license. That was where I discovered my love for travel. 2 days later the police tracked us down and we were not released until later that night. They rang our parents and told them where we were, unable to pick us up from London Ty and I's parents told us to come back ourselves. If I remember correctly my Father just said "You got yourself there, now get yourself back". The police trusted us driving back as we had already gotten there as long as we went straight back. Because if we disobeyed, there was bound to be trouble.

When I got home my parents scorned me and they pretty much told me everything that could have happened if something went wrong. That year I finished junior year and finished highschool for good. I refused to do senior year and my parents, after many arguments and delegations gave up and said "Fine, do as you please". That was a turning point in my life as I was finally given freedom. I knew what I wanted to do, and all I wanted to do.

On my 18th birthday I got a plane ticket and flew to New Zealand for a month. I roadtripped with Ty all over thee country. I saw their culture and it was amazing, we fulfilled many of our bucketlist wishes there. It was life changing. On the journey the scenery was beautiful, although I had a cameraa and a Go- Pro capturing a lot of footage, I was going to preserve the scene in a sketch. After only 3 sketches, I was hooked on the art of creating a view into an image. This was not copying, this was preserving and remembering.

I had discovered my purpose in life. I was ready to now fulfill it.