Life in Up With People.

My life has definitely changed a lot in the last two months. On July 8th I made the decisions to get on a plane and fly to the mid west to join a program that I thought would change my life. I think it's safe to say that it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Since the first day, this experience has tested me and shown me what I'm really made of. I've met people from 19 different countries and some from places that I honestly never thought of before in my entire life.

I remember telling my host dad this week, Raul, that I never wanted to see the world really before Up With People. I mean, I always said that I wanted to travel but I only wanted to go to tourist spots, not anywhere else really. Now when I say that I want to travel, I mean that I want to see the world and immerse myself in a bunch of different cultures.

I can't wait to travel to Sweden and other parts of Europe and see what it's like living there. I want to go to Tanzania, and to South Africa and get a glimpse of what life is like in such different cultures.

Now when I say that I want to really see the world, I mean the world. I feel like there are a lot of things about me that are changing. I'm learning so much about the world, things that before I never had an interest in learning and now I want to know everything about all these different places and people.

Another cool thing is that I'm learning a lot about the United States, the irony of it is that I'm learning some things from people that aren't even American. I feel so honored to be able to spend so much time with people from all over the world. I love the fact that we get to live with host families in each city instead of in hotels because it really helps us to learn a lot about each city.

When my dad asked me if this program was everything I thought it would be, it took me a while to answer him because it's so much more than anything I thought or imagined. I feel so alive. I feel more alive that I have ever felt in my entire life. This is really everything that I've ever wanted to do. I'm not sure how I'm really going to go back to life without this, thankfully I still have three months of this left so I don't have to cross that bridge for a while.

If someone would have to told me years ago that I would be doing something like this I never would have believed them but here I am.