I am 30 days out, 29 now actually, from reporting for staging for the Peace Corps. I found out Friday night that staging will be in Miami, not D.C. like I was thinking it would be. I am thinking that this is a nice way of the Peace Corps allowing us to have a few days in the Miami sun before we head to the end of the Ukrainian winter. Regardless of the reason, I am looking forward to it and honestly it can’t come soon enough, I am ready to start my service.

I keep getting asked what I will be doing in the Peace Corps and my answer is, “I will be serving in Ukraine as a Business/NGO Advisor doing Community Economic Development.” The looks I get after this answer are hilarious to say the least. I keep telling everyone that, that is the broad description of what I will be doing and when I get a better idea of my main project I will be more then happy to pass it along and explain it better.

To say I am excited is an understatement. This has been a dream of mine for many, many years. That being said, I plan to document as much of this journey as possible across multiple social media platforms from this blog to a weekly vlog on my YouTube page, to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I want to be as open as possible about my experience and share as much as possible with the world as I can. I welcome all comments, questions and concerns.

Finally and most importantly, I chose the picture for this 1st blog post because it is one of my favorite pictures of me and my parents. It was taken at Pier Two in Sydney, Australia while I was on Student Exchange at the University of Newcastle taking my Globalization classes in the Fall of 2014. I was lucky enough for them to come visit me Down Under for a few weeks in October for my birthday (they have never missed a birthday in 30 years). These two amazing people have given me so much over my life and I will never be able to pay them back for everything they have done for me but hopefully I can make them proud. The fact that I get to join and serve in the Peace Corps is because of all the opportunities, travels, education and guidance given to me by my parents over the years.

Thanks mom & dad! What’s next…