Youchen Chen
Shanghai, China
5:32 a.m., 13/12/2009
The young man in this photograph is me when I was standing on a road milestone.
It is the boundary between Italy and Slovenia.
He was wondering where to go for his next destination.
He traveled many roads before and this happened to him all the time.
He was in his sophomore year, participating the exchange program at Lund University in Sweden.
He decided to backpack during the winter break and found his own path.
He loved the unfamiliar, and he trusted strangers.
He searched for better questions, not answers.
He only had some favorite books and a map with him, but he thought that was enough.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
He stepped out to side of Slovenia; he followed his heart; he made a choice on his own again.