By now you probably have heard a little bit about what I’ve been up to lately.

Thanks in part to my efforts with chancehirehospey.com (my try-hard job resume), and in full thanks to my favourite rapper, I spent the majority of May & June 2017 travelling across the United States with the Be Encouraged Tour. Having to cut my staycation in Australia short might not sound like it would’ve been an easy decision, but trust me when I say this was an opportunity that didn’t even have me contemplating any other options.

As soon as I got the confirmation, my life for about 5 days consisted of: quitting my job and working my last 2 days, packing up my room and effectively getting kicked out of my house the night before I was set to leave Australia (note: my landlord and 9 roommates had no idea that I had been going viral for about a month, or texting a famous rapper… my bad?), flying for 17 hours back to Canada, spending 16 hours getting everything in place, flying to San Francisco at 8am, visiting that big red bridge that I had longed to see for so long, and finally, joining the tour and meeting my new boss for the first time. A semi-eventful week you could say.

I didn’t tell many people where I was going, or where I was – and to this day, about 3 weeks post-tour, I really haven’t written much about it. But I will. Sometimes, even for a story-teller, you have to sit back and put the pencil down and just take it all in. When you’re welcomed into a family it’s an obligation to put just as much into it as you get out of it; They invited me into their family.

As many Canadians are, I was a little unsure of how I would be treated in America – especially as a young black male – but I honestly can’t say anything but thank-you to the majority of people I interacted with during my 2 months. Sure, it’s not a perfect place, but I’ve yet to visit a country that is.

And I know I’ve said it too many times before, but just wait on it. I’ll share all my stories about that one time I went on a rap tour, as the time comes – some very soon, some not as soon.

Overall, I just want to say thank you Chance the Rapper (I can finally ‘say it out loud, my favourite rapper is a Christian rapper’), and the entire CTR & SoX team family.

more stories incoming,

-Hosp.

@hxspey, or on twitter @hospey follow my adventures on the gram, or on twitter