A Break Before the Beginning

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It's hard to believe that I'm in beautiful Breckinridge, Colorado going through gap year orientation. Many of you are probably still curious why I decided to embark on this 9 month adventure, and to be honest I found myself wondering the same thing several times this summer. However, as my departure came closer, my anticipation and anxiousness turned into complete excitement for the upcoming year.

My journey officially began Saturday when I flew into the Denver airport. There is a strange feeling that comes along with saying goodbye to home for 4 months. Before this trip the longest I have been away from home was a month. Nonetheless, after arriving in Denver and meeting the 14 other students crazy enough to launch into this year of mysteries with me, I could not be happier. There is something both bizarre and remarkable about students from completely different backgrounds coming together in community. It does not matter if you are from Portland, Oregon or Houston, Texas; whether you are liberal or conservative; or your music tastes are polar opposites. We eat together, we laugh together, we cry together, and we accept each other. We are related by just our madness and our passion to learn about the world, ourselves, and God. We have talked through some of what this year will look like, explored some of the mountains of Colorado, and enjoyed each others presence and community. I am pumped for Denver and my upcoming internship, but it has been nice to take some time off from reality and just exist for a little while.

Now, most of you are also probably wondering what this year will look like for me. My adventure will begin in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, where I will be for the entire semester. There, I will be working with an organization called Christ's Body, a mission in the inner-city that serves the poor, the homeless, and people from all walks of life. I will live in a house with 8 of my fellow students and 2 leaders. After Denver, I will have several weeks off over winter break. In January, all 15 of us students will make our way to the Middle East where we will explore parts of Jordan, Israel, and the Holy Land. We will be in the Middle East for around a month before 5 of my fellow students and I will head straight to Patagonia to spend 8 days trekking through the Torres del Paise, the official 8th wonder of the world. Finally, I will be in Santiago, Chile for the remainder of the year. I will live with a Chilean family, work an internship, and hopefully learn to speak Spanish fluently. This year will no doubt be an adventure.