Inspirations Past and Present

In future posts I will discuss inspirations in great detail, but wanted to introduce some of them at this time. My firsts experiences abroad were with my parents at timeshare resorts in Mexico. I later returned to Mexico through a mission trip as a high school student and saw another side to the country volunteering to build houses in the Yucatan.

Cuernavaca, Mexico

I was fortunate to receive a Congress-Bundestag Scholarship to spend my senior year of high school in Germany. It significantly altered my world view and goals. I like life abroad and wanted to experience more of the world. I attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota because of their Center for Global Education. Before earning my undergraduate degree in International Journalism and Peace and Global Studies, I participated in CGE programs in Namibia and Mexico. I also spent a semester in the Yunnan Province of China through SIT and finished with an experiential semester in Washington DC.

After working and meeting my husband in Washington, DC after graduation, we moved to Delaware for graduate school rather than China, as we were planning. In order to stay tried into the international community, I found a community role as a Local Coordinator through CIEE. There, I was able to work with high school exchange students who came for the semester or year in Delaware and meet like-minded families who were kind enough to open their hearts and homes.

Since relocation to Rochester, NY, I found serving as a local coordinator was difficult with no family, friend and a brand new, small professional network - not to mention I had far less time with a brand new baby! I still miss it, but feel it is not right to commit since we will be moving again in a half a year. Now, I rely on friends abroad, as well as some favorite planning websites and podcasts. A couple of my favorite travel podcasts include Amateur Traveler and Indie Travel. The most notable website is Briefcase to Backpack.

This is just a little overview of some of my inspirations, past and present.