The Beginning

Traveling has always been a dream of mine as it seems to be for everyone, but for me, it was just that: a nonserious dream. I hadn't actually planned on traveling, and I just figured I would travel if I could, but the only thing regarding traveling that I was actually serious about was that I knew I wanted to go on a humanitarian trip at someday. But see, even then I was planning that for a day called "someday" that doesn't exist. So how and why did I decide to drop everything and leave the country for four months? One night I went back to my apartment after school and work, and my roommate ran up to me, completely ecstatic about who knows what. She was holding a flyer and started talking one-hundred words per minute about this traveling or study abroad or volunteer or something program. After I finally got her to calm down enough to understand what she was saying, she told me about the International Language Program (ILP) with which you could travel to your choice of eight different countries and teach English to children for a semester! As we had both been recently discussing how much we wanted to get out of Provo and do something else, this seemed like the perfect getaway, and a great opportunity for me to go on that long-desired humanitarian trip of mine. We looked into and talked about this program until 3 AM. We were indescribably excited. Knowing I wanted to go to Europe and NOT somewhere hot, the very next morning I applied for both Lithuania and Ukraine. (My roommate applied as well, but her plans changed when her life took a new and exciting course as she got married!) It didn't even occur to me until the next day that I should probably inform (it was a little late for asking) my family! Oops! Luckily I have the best parents and siblings in the world and they were very supportive. Within three weeks I had been interviewed, accepted, and assigned to the program in Kyiv, Ukraine! Around the same time, I decided to serve an LDS mission. Appointments and documents for both my mission and Ukraine filled my schedule for the next while. Within just a few months I had it all finished, and now it's all so close and becoming so real! I leave for Ukraine in less than one week! My parents will send my mission papers off for me in March while I'm gone, and at the end of March, they will hold my mission call up to a camera and I will read it over Skype! I'll return home from Ukraine at the end of April, and leave for my mission some time after my 19th birthday in July! So, here's to The Beginning. The Beginning of my travels, new adventures, new opportunities, and the beginning of my journey on which I intend to find myself. I hope you enjoy reading as you follow me on these adventures!