Starting Over

I started this blog a while back and have not utilized it in many months. I have decided to start using it again as my travel blog. That's right...I'm leaving the country on February 16th, 2010 to begin a new journey. I am packing a backpack and leaving everything else behind (in my wonderful parent's house and step sister and her finace's house...THANK YOU!!!) I fly into Guatemala City and what lies ahead is unknown. I plan to do lots of exploring, soul searching, relaxing, volunteering and pushing myself to try new things and meet new people. I hope to really immerse myself in the many different communities that exist and to speak Spanish. I want to increase my level of energy and get out of the daily routine of work, eat, sleep. What better place to do this than Central America? As I said before, I don't have any concrete plans. I plan to volunteer with an organization called Semilla Nueva (http://www.semillanueva.org/www.semillanueva.org/Welcome.html) which was founded by some wonderful people I grew up with in Ashland. I look forward to working with them, living in a rural city in Guatemala and experiencing such a rich culture with an elusive history. I am not sure how long I am going to be gone. My tentative plan is to make it down to Costa Rica and head back up to Oregon sometime in July, or when I am completely out of money. I have applied to graduate school for my Masters in Social Work and my hope is to get into a program that I can start when I return in the Fall of 2010. I'll hear from schools in March and April.

For the next two weeks I am going to be preparing to leave. There is so much to do and so little time. At this point, reality hasn't set in...that I am leaving the country and have no idea what I am doing. I know it's happening, but I just don't feel it yet. I guess those feelings will come when I am on the airplane and about to land in a country that is foreign to me. In the meantime, if anyone who follows me through my blog has been to Central America and would like to give me some advice or recommend a place to go, eat or stay PLEASE DO SO! I am open to suggestions and any connections that anyone might have. I will do my best to write and post pictures, but I will not have my laptop with me, which means I will write when I find internet cafes. I hear they are pretty prevalent down there, so I shouldn't have any problems. Wish me luck!!!