My Travel Journals

In high school Spanish, I listened to a presentation about some volunteer program in Mexico, automatically dismissing it. Of course I wouldn't do something like that. Then I stood outside myself and asked, "But what if you did?"

The question stuck.

Fast forward to the end of the school year. I'm 17 and on a plane to Mexico City to be a health volunteer for the Amigos program. When I returned, I wasn't quite the same person who left.

And so it began. Seeking experience for the purpose of change became an invisible force in the back of my mind. Without understanding, without consciously deciding, I was driven.

Balancing personal growth against the chances of danger, I chose opportunities not too far out of my comfort zone. Like a delicate plant in a box, carefully weeded and tended against the weather leaving room to grow.

I'm an introvert, naive, and easily overwhelmed. Paranoid, uptight, and not particularly athletic. Did I mention I'm picky about public toilets? I wonder why people think I'm brave when I'm only willing and very lucky. You can be, too!