I grew up the youngest of four in a small Midwest town in Indiana. I love my hometown, the friends who still live there, the beach (yes, there are beaches in the Midwest) and I get recharged every time I go back for a visit but I am not your typical Midwesterner. At a pretty young age, I wanted to live outside the country, learn different languages and cultures, and meet people from around the world.

My first adventure outside of the USA was during my high school senior spring break to Mexico with my Spanish class and teacher Senor Hakim. I loved speaking the language, learning the culture, and meeting the locals.  Then when I started my undergraduate degree in college, I visited the International House on campus, who lead study abroad trips, and I felt like I found my second home on campus. Each year of college, I found reasons to leave the country to study Spanish in Mexico, conduct a field study in Coast Rica, live abroad in Australia for a semester, and finally teach English to Romanian children in the Peace Corps after I graduation.