Alex Budak is one of our newest travel geeks to join Sosauce. I found this collegiate traveler a few months ago via Tumblr when I stumbled upon some of his photos from India. It was his humorous writing, stunning photos, and pursuit of social action that kept me coming back to Alex’s blog. As a young traveler with a passion for cultural exchange and participating in the greater good, it wasn’t long before Alex was welcomed to his new home on Sosauce. He’s now one of our featured PWR users and we’re thrilled to have him join our community!

I recently got to catch up with Alex shortly after he returned home from his summer-long trip in India. Alex shares with me his travel experiences, how college has treated him, and how he intends to use Public Policy to make the world a little better.

Welcome back to the states – how has home been treating you?

Thank you! While my three months in India were fantastic, I had never been so excited, or felt so lucky to return back to the US. It’s been so nice to have air conditioning and normal toilets again; not to mention being able to cross the street without worrying about avoiding cows, rickshaws, pedestrians, cyclists, camels, cars, and mopeds. It’s been great to catch up with family and friends, and I’ve remembered how much I love sandwiches, burritos, and being able to drink tap water directly!

Can you tell us some of the work you did with the India Institute of Management this summer?

I was studying abroad at the Indian Institute of Management, taking courses ranging from negotiations to intellectual property. The Indian style of higher education is quite different from what I am used to in the United States, so that took some adjusting to, but I learned a ton while in India – both inside and outside of the classroom.

How did you get involved with international volunteering programs?

My friends and I didn’t want to just be taking away from our experience in India, we wanted to try and give something back. We learned about a program called Indicorps (which is similar to Americorps), and began looking for volunteer programs that would take on volunteers for just a couple of months, and didn’t require speaking Hindi (since my Hindi vocabulary doesn’t extend far beyond “hi,” “how are you,” and a couple of dirty words). We learned about a couple of people our age who were working to bring ultimate frisbee to local children, and jumped at the chance to be volunteer coaches for them. Monday and Wednesday were practices for a group of kids, mostly boys, from the local slums, while Tuesday and Thursday we coached kids from an all-girls, religious school. We worked with them on general fitness (running and stretching) as well as giving them plenty of room to run around and play games. Though I don’t pretend it was arduous volunteering, I always looked forward to the chance to run around with and help teach the children. Despite the language barrier, some things are universal. For example the kids loved it when, while running laps with my keys and wallet in my pockets, my shorts began falling down. Apparently that’s funny in any language.

Alex helping coach Indian girls ultimate frisbee

Can you share with us some of your experience pursuing your master’s in Public Policy? What pushed you in that direction? And where would you like to take your future with that degree?

My background in public policy studies began during my undergrad studies at UCLA where I had the opportunity to help reform undergraduate admissions policies for the University, resulting in a more diverse class, which still had incredibly high academic standards, but which also better represented the diversity of the state of California. Bolstered by this experience in creating change for the social good, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in the field, and knew I had made the right decision when I met my classmates: a group of about 120 students, all of whom are dedicated to improving the world in their own way.

While at Georgetown University I have become passionate about studying and working at the intersection of technology and social entrepreneurship, looking at ways in which new technologies can fundamentally change the world, promote economic development, and forge new connections promoting the public good. While I’m not sure exactly where I’ll end up after I graduate next spring, I want to dedicate my career to leveraging the potential of technology to improve the world around me.

What have you learned as a college student studying abroad in recent years? What projects were the most impacting on your life?

Though it was hard to pry myself away from my friends and the UCLA campus I loved so much, studying abroad was one of the best things I’ve done in my life. My first experience studying abroad, through “Semester at Sea,” which combined coursework with field programs exploring the countries we were studying, opened my eyes to how big, diverse, and fascinating the world really is. Traveling and studying abroad immediately thrusts you out of your comfort zone, and it’s in these times that you have the chance to grow and learn far more than while in a classroom.

How do you maintain such an active social presence when you’re busy doing good around the world?

Traveling, and sharing my stories from abroad, is actually what first introduced me to the way in which technology has the ability to fundamentally change and improve the world. I still remember the first time I got a comment on my travel blog from someone besides my number one fan, my Mom. It was from a random guy I had never met from New York, and his comment was quickly followed by someone from Malaysia, and then someone from Australia. It blew my mind that someone halfway around the world, whom I had never met, would have any interest in reading about my travels, but I soon realized that through utilizing the capabilities of interactive and social media, the whole world is increasingly interconnected. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to travel, study, and volunteer abroad, and I feel like the least I can do is share my stories, photos and experiences from abroad in the hopes that others at least learn something about these countries, and possibly even become inspired to go see them (and others) for themselves. Though it does take time to share my experiences, the feedback I get from both friends as well as those whom I have never met, absolutely keeps me going.

Have you found traveling to be encouraging or discouraging to your professional and/or personal life?

Absolutely encouraging. Traveling has both shown me problems in the world that need to be addressed, as well as a diverse range of ways in which different countries are working to solve them. It has both challenged and inspired me to find a way to leave the world better than I found it. Also, traveling often leads to crazy experiences, wild stories, and connections with fellow travelers that stick with me long after my plane has landed back at home.

How many footprints (according to your Sosauce page) have you left on the world?

My Sosauce footprints tell me 29; hopefully that number will keep increasing.

Where would you like to travel next? Why?

Such a great question, and such a hard one to answer. I get very ADD when it comes to picking travel destinations (which is why Semester at Sea was so great for me), and it’s so hard to choose. One of the great paradoxes of travel is that the more you see, the more you realize there is out there that you have yet to see! If I had to pick now, I would say Southeast Asia which I have always wanted to visit, though I’d also love to return to Berlin for a bit as well.

And lastly, as a travel AND tech geek, what would be your dream job?

I’d love to lead a start-up that, in the spirit of social entrepreneurship, focuses on improving the world around us, using technology to bring people together and fundamentally change society. Or the head coach of UCLA’s basketball team. I’ll take either!

You can read more about Alex’s recent work in India on Sosauce. You can also befriend him to keep up with his latest writing, photos and videos. We hope reading about Alex’s experience will also inspire others to travel the world and do their part in making our world a better place.

Read more posts by Alisha

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 12:51 PM and is filed under Asia, Europe, Spotlight, Technology, Travel, Traveler. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.