30 days until the next big move!

Hi everyone! 

So summer is winding down and I am now preparing to move to Thailand in 30 days! It has been a rough past two weeks sending all my friends off to college and now here I am, the last one of us left on this little island. I plan to work as much as I can throughout these next few weeks. The question I get asked most by family friends, locals who come into the resturant, and just plain strangers is "so when does college start up?" I have probably repeated the answer at least 15 times...no, I am not going to college this year...Instead I am doing service work with a program called GVI. 

GVI stands for Global Vision International and is a UK based program, but accepts volunteers from all over the world who are fluent in english, as teaching english is part of the job in any program you chose. My first destination as previously stated is Phuket, Thailand which is the biggest island in Thailand, located in the south. I'll be in Phang Nga Bay.  It is a major tourist destination, but also an area with needs that include enviromental work, community development, and of course, english teachers. I will be part of the coastal conservation team, where our goal is to keep those beautiful beaches clean and help preserve the endangered species located in the area, as well as education locals (children, and adults) about the importance of enviromental conservation and how they can help. I'm doing this program for two months, and then have an extra month in Thailand where I will live and spend Christmas with my uncle who is located convientently nearby on the island of Phuket. 

The day after Christmas I fly to Laos, where I will teach english to Buddhist Novice monks for 3 full months.  I have never taught before, so I am nervous! But I also feel confident that I can really help these people to learn english, as I know how hard it is to try and learn a new language. 

I can't wait to start this adventure, and I have the familar feeling of nervous excitment that I felt before my departure date to Italy! It's a feeling I've craved all year, that feeling right before you start something totally new and foreign. This year is my dream, during my whole senior year I battled in my mind with the decision whether or not to go straight to college. I ended up enrolling into the University of Puget Sound, and deferring my enrollment to the fall of 2015.  While it is tough to see all my friends starting over at the colleges they all decided to attend, I know that soon enough I will be on a new adventure of my own and this is the right path for me! Thanks for reading and I will update again once I have started the journey! For relatives or anyone else who might have any questions feel free to contact me...lots of love xoxoxoxx