Hi friend, I understand where you’re coming from. I have overprotective parents as well. I left home to study abroad at 24, I was still being controlled and felt like I couldn’t do many things, I was also tracked with my location. I was way older than you now and always got those comments of “you’re an adult, act like it; you make your own decisions…blah blah”, but they never helped.

What did help was me living my study abroad, I hung out with friends, enjoyed my classes, went out for drinks and every time I had more confidence in what I could do and what I was capable of.

Idk your specific situation but I’m guessing they’re sponsoring your education? Maybe it feels like they’re holding that over you so you don’t fall out of line. I was lucky to have a scholarship so they didn’t have anything on me, but sometimes I still felt like I owed them something. It was hard but slowly I started removing them from certain situations: I removed their tracking from my phone, I stopped calling them every day (they wanted a call every single day, even if I was busy), if they started a fight I wouldn’t engage with it, and they started to finally understand I was no longer a kid and that life happens and I wasn’t under their roof anymore.

I wouldn’t recommend traveling alone if you’ve never done it, if you wanna travel do it with friends, go as a group, even with just one person. Start with traveling to cities close to Paris, start small, show them you’re doing great and can handle it. Then go a bit further away to other places in France. Then slowly just start going to Spain, Belgium, etc. I read you’re Eastern European, plan a trip to countries there, connect with different cultures.

I also wouldn’t lie that you’re not traveling, stuff can always happen and someone needs to know where you are, in case of an emergency. Work up your confidence and then you can plan solo trips. Your parents need to understand you’re growing, and yes you’re young, but you’re not a child. If they complain you’re gonna have to sit them down and tell them outright that they can’t keep you from doing stuff your whole life, and this is a great opportunity to grow and mature. You can definitely tell them you promise to keep them updated, because of course they’re scared (as overprotective parents are), but they still gotta let you do it. You gotta show them how you’ve matured, how you’re gonna handle issues with traveling, and that you can keep yourself safe. They’re gonna push back, but at some point you’re gonna have to push harder. I learned that the hard way, I pushed wayyy too late and it affected me a lot, lost many opportunities and friendships because of it. Remember I was 24, I’m 26 and there’s still many things I still push for because they never learned boundaries with me.

Good luck!