What is the Bonderman? / What am I doing?

When I first got to Seattle, I knew few people here. However, despite what I've heard about "the Seattle Freeze" (if you haven't heard about this, look it up), I've found it pretty easy to meet some great, fascinating people. 

Very early on I made a friend who told me her story of traveling around the world and the incredible adventures she's had. She had just gotten back from 8-9 months traveling all over Africa, Asia, and I believe Eastern Europe. She told me about this fellowship called the Bonderman which funded the entire thing. "Somebody paid for you to just travel around the world?!" I was incredulous. 

So what is the Bonderman, exactly?

“The Bonderman Travel Fellowship offers University of Washington graduate and undergraduate students an opportunity to engage in independent exploration and travel abroad. Bonderman Fellowships enable students to undertake independent international travel to explore, be open to the unexpected, and come to know the world in new ways. Bonderman Fellowships are intended to introduce students to cultures, peoples, and areas of the world with which they are not familiar.

The Bonderman Travel Fellowship program was created in 1995 through a gift from David Bonderman, who earned his undergraduate degree in Russian from the University of Washington in 1963. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he received a Sheldon Fellowship that allowed him to travel internationally, an experience that had a profound impact on his life. Now a successful investment adviser, Mr. Bonderman provides opportunities to current UW students ($20,000) for similarly transformative travel experiences through this fellowship program.”

But surely there must be requirements, catches? Well, sort of. Here’s what I have to do:

1.     Be gone for at least 8 months

2.     Go to at least 6 different countries, in at least 2 different parts of the world

3.     Travel solo

4.     Do not participate in any organized program or job

5.     Do not do any research

Yeah, pretty much the best “requirements” for anything I’ve ever done. A friend of mine compared it to Willy Wonka’s “Golden Ticket.”

In essence, by virtue of simply being a student at UW and having my application accepted, I’ve become one of the lucky 14 this year to receive David Bonderman’s generous gift.