The Process (Part One)

          Hey everyone! So you all know that I’ll be going abroad as an exchange student to Bahia, Brazil, but what you probably don’t not know, is exactly how I got to this point. The process of becoming an exchange student varies from one exchange program to the next, so I can only speak for Rotary Youth Exchange, which is the program I’m with. But no matter what program you go with, the first step in becoming an exchange student is realizing that you want to be one.
          I’ve been traveling with my parents since I was pretty darn little. If you want to get all technical with it, the first time I was in an airplane was when I was two months old, when my parents went on their honeymoon to Hawaii and took little-baby-me with them (weirdly enough, I don’t really remember much from that trip :P). Since then I’ve been to Europe and Latin America! Over the years I’ve discovered a serious love of travel, and I try to jump on every opportunity I get for doing so. Traveling was always a family occasion for me though, and I had never really considered venturing out into the greater world on my own before college. So what changed, you might ask? Well, when I was in middle school, I had an art teacher and a spanish teacher who would take a small group of 8th and 9th grade students to a foreign country for two weeks each summer after middle-school graduation. Two weeks without my parents in Costa Rica, and the travel-seed was forever planted in the heart of yours truly. Sure, two weeks might not be all that long, but really, it gave me a chance to learn more about myself as an individual, and it showed me that mentally and socially I was much more independent than I had ever considered myself to be before.
          So I think that for me that trip was inspiration. Explaining the rest is going to take a more than just one post, so I think I'll divide it into smaller sections. Here is where I'll leave you hanging! Inspiration. What does that mean to different people? Everyone finds their inspiration in different places, and mine just happened to be in Costa Rica. I guess my point is just that sometimes trying new things, pushing yourself to strive for something different, just might end up showing you something about yourself that you hadn't known was there before. Inspiration can be found when you least expect it, and it can lead you to some amazing people, realizations, and experiences that you'll never forget. Try something new, even just taste a new food! The little things are just as important, and you never know what doors and adventures you'll find!

*Want to say hi? Hello is olá, Hi is oi, and if you're picking up the telephone you might just say alô!