Adventures and Aspirations

I'm starting a blog. Well, obviously. Why? Because I enjoy telling stories and adventuring and hopefully the upcoming months in my life will be full of even more adventures.I'm a louisianan at heart (can't really define myself as cajun though) and a Texas transplant, however no one will ever convince me Texas is the greatest state. And in 26 days, I'll be moving to DC for the next 7 months (minus a couple weeks) While I'm mainly blogging because I want to record stories, memories, adventures, and experiences for myself and my future family, I'll start my blogging with a few of my passions and interests. 

I love learning. Not always in a traditional going to class way. But learning about culture, the world, people and their experiences. 

I believe that we can learn something from everyone we come into contact to no matter how different than us they are. Although we all have a natural tendency to stereotype, we should respect culture and differences and then decide to agree or disagree after learning another's point of view.

Some of my interests (I will expand on them later):

Education: I have been lucky to attend private school my entire life. But, the inequalities in our education system fascinate me and this semester I have interned at an alternative high school (more about that in later posts). The transformation I have seen in students' lives because they had one person who genuinely cared is amazing. This summer I will be interning in congress, and hopefully working on education policy. 

Alopecia: At age six, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Alopecia Areata. Within 3 weeks, I lost all of my hair. This seemingly small physical trait, hair, is powerful and this disease has changed me into the person I am today. There have been way too many opportunities to count that I have had because of Alopecia. 

Human Trafficking: My junior year of high school I learned about human trafficking. The fact that there are so many helpless people, especially girls, sold into sex trafficking each day with little hope for the future should startle us. It's easy to go about our daily lives and not think about what is happening next door to us and halfway around the world, but I think it's important that we do. 

Our Justice System: Visiting Angola State Prison my Junior year of high school helped me see a whole other side of our world. Prisons are this secret place, full of people with copious amounts of stories, that are incredibly different than me, but in some ways very similar. It's a haven for curious people like me, trying to get out of their comfort zone and learn. 

Africa: Yes, all of Africa. Since as long as I can remember, I wanted to go to Africa. When I got the opportunity following my senior year of high school to go to Uganda, I was elated. I love African people. They have SO much to teach us, and often as westernized people, we think we have so much to teach them. But, I believe it's definitely the other way around. 

Running: Running shaped so much of my life. Just like Alopecia. Well, not just like it but in a different way. Going from the slowest girl in 5th grade (not an exaggeration, I came in last in the physical fitness test mile) to becoming a division 1 athlete, took a lot of hard work, early mornings, tears, exhaustion, and eventually happiness. Although that chapter is mostly closed due to injury, it still remains as a huge part of my life, through all of the people I've met, and friendships I've made. This is cliche, but running is so symbolic for life. If you can survive 2 hour practices in 110 degree Louisiana heat every day, you can make it through most things in life. Many of my favorite conversations took place on long runs with some of my best friends and that's something that lasts forever. 



Some of my favorite thoughts: