Jaemin Yi | Travel, Creativity, and the Pursuit of Awesomeness

About 6 months ago, I went to Burning Man for the first time. And it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve EVER had. Hands down.

I know, people throw around the word “life changing” a lot. But I shit you not, that’s EXACTLY what it was for me. It truly was a transformative, un-f*cking-believable experience and I know it’ll hold a special place in my life for many years to come.

But honestly, it wasn’t all that long ago when I had NO idea what Burning Man was. I thought it was some drugged out, Woodstock-like concert. Or a raging hippie orgy in the desert.

Either way, I saw it as something that just “wasn’t for me”.

I’m guessing that’s what most of you are thinking right now, huh?

Luckily for me, one day, a client of mine started telling me all about his Burning Man experience. About what it was really like. Beyond the dumb misconceptions and stereotypes.

Two things happened that day: 1) My mind was blown, and 2) I knew I HAD to go and experience it for myself. This was not an option.

And now, a year later and with my own amazing experience under my belt, I think it’s my duty to do the same for you. To tell you about the real Burning Man.

I got mugged in Colombia. And it was all cause I was trying to get some.

Before you judge, let me back up and explain.

So it was my last night in Colombia. I had spent 31 incident-free days living it up in Medellín (the city made famous by it’s legendary women, Pablo Escobar…and Entourage) but now it was time to say adios.

My buddies Sol and Sean threw me a Despedida (farewell party) and I swear, it was like out of a movie. The whole night, all these characters I had met over the past 4 weeks showed up to send me off.

My salsa dancing teacher. The crazy, tri-lingual Swedish sisters. The Reggaeton producer who became my closest parcero (‘friend’ in Medellín-talk). The backpacking Canadian fiance’s. My Brazillian and Dutch guitar-mates.

Man, it wasn’t until the Despedida that I realized how much I was going to miss Medellín.

The night was a whirlwind of dancing, pizza cooking, and Aguardiente drinking (not necessarily in that order) and before I knew it, it was already 4am and time to bounce.

After a few heartfelt goodbyes, I grabbed a cab with the Colombian girl I’d been dating and we booked it out of there. And this is where I started to make a series of mistakes.

I give my friend Taneen a lot of shit. I’m always making fun of her. Always laughing at the random and stupid things she says.

But honestly, she’s one of my favorite people to hang out with. I don’t tell her this much in person, but I think deep down she knows (or at least she does now – you better be reading my blog punk).

We got to kick it last week and it reminded me why I love this girl. Every time we hang out, two things happen: 1) we cut through the bullshit and, 2) randomness and spontaneity are the name of the game.

Let’s start with 1).

Most conversations, people just talk about inconsequential stuff. What movies they saw, how their vacation was, what’s going on at their job. Those convos are fine and all, but when I have them, I never feel like I really get to know a person. What makes them tick. Who they really are.

Taneen is a G at cutting through all that bullshit. I mean, there we are, just chillin in her kitchen, doing the whole catching-up-on-life thing, when without warning she just launches into it: