Being able to experience a "happy life" requires pursuing a passion, having deep affection, and obtaining emotional and mental skills. From this experience, it requires a two-week trip around New England along with around 70 other students from the United States and Canada.

These ordinary high school students, whom I met in the first part of the trip, had extraordinary interests and hobbies I never knew people had. I met students from the dull state of Kansas; they explained how they crafted leather wallets, belts, and sheaths for personal use or retail sale. Their way of living was very "old-fashioned" but fascinating like they were living a "happy life." However, the "happy life" I want wouldn't be 40 minutes away from a Taco Bell and in the middle of nowhere.

I believed the "happy life" included people who treated others like they'd known them since birth. On the trip, the West Virginians considered every student part of their family; the background of one didn't even matter to them until they got to know each other. Being from the small town of Madison, West Virginia, forces residents to get along with each other and treat others with love. Although the state isn't anywhere to go for vacation, going there for their high school homecoming made me feel attached, like I belonged there. 

When the two weeks finally ended, and we all finally said goodbyes, I started to become skeptical of what my "happy life" was anymore. My standards took off to another level; I didn't know what I wanted for my future. However, the trip gave me a whole new perspective on life; all I knew was that I wanted to get to know people's "happy lives" so I could figure out and, indeed, find out what mine is.

Isolation is the unhealthiest disease anyone could experience. It carves the mind away from any social connection and takes away the true happiness of life. Before the trip, everyone aimed to discover the definition of a "happy life." However, by the end of the journey, I learned there was no definition of "happy life" in the first place. Every student had their meaning. Whether it is specializing in making leather products or having people treat others like family, whatever makes a person fulfilled in life is the definition of a "happy life."