How it all began…

‘The wheels on the bus went round’…

So what spurred all this craziness on in the first place you might ask? Well let me tell ya! It kinda began after I applied for the STA’s 2009 World Travel Internship this past January and then two months later fell short of making it in the top twenty. So when the hope of that venture was over I moved to my next quest. The process however was a great learning experience & opportunity to meet some very cool people as well as a time to really consider what it was I wanted to do. It didn’t take long before the idea of having a similar gig through SMU instead, began to develop in my mind. Hmmm, I like the ring of that tune. SMU World Travel Internship? Could this work?! The wheels started turning…

The 3 Bugs:

It was during the application process when I was rallying support for my video that I met Shelley. Wow was this girl excited! When I wanted to write an article for the Daily Mustang (our online campus news report) I had to first contact the right student to talk to. I scrolled through Bio’s of the employees and then there was one word which caught my attention, ‘travel’…go figure. Having never met this girl before I took to her immediately when I read, “I love traveling….my kids will have accents….”  Bingo! Found my person. Well in the end she ended up writing an article on me instead.

Once I found out I wasn’t moving up the ranks in the comp I turned my attention to the present. After some random brainstorming sessions on the top deck of a boat on the Amazon river talking to my new friend Cody at 1am…the pages were turning.  I thought to myself, what if the ‘world travel internship’ could be sponsored by SMU instead? Hmm, after a disappointing halt to the competition I sought other avenues to continue this momentum that had essentially begun when I applied in January.

Combining Forces:

What makes this trio so unique is what we each bring to the table; Cody’s film background and a sense of humor you will find most amusing; Shelley’s travel writing experience and profound spunk so contagious you might shed a tear of joy over a simple thing as seeing a butterfly.  Me, well I don’t know. Business perspective, getter-done attitude or maybe its just the quirky and wild ideas that come to mind. I could go on about the travel bugs or you could see more of us in action as our epic journey awaits.

Where in the world?

So why wouldn’t this work I thought. Its perfect! Lets call it the SMU Travel Bug! Lets get started. First question. Where in the world should we go? That’s a hard question to answer when your bucket list covers the globe, Ha! This might sound crazy but I think Europe chose us.  We narrowed to places less traveled. Umm okay, still kind of broad. Then we looked at the SMU abroad programs and where they were NOT located. Taking part in a service project abroad was also on our list of to-dos. Easy enough, this part sort of fell into our lap’s. Through a small chat with a friend, I had discovered a contact at an Orphanage in Romania. The ball was rolling and with all these goals in mind we then discovered a diamond in the rough, Eastern Europe.  With a few Western European countries included in the bunch, our exploits will take us to the more unchartered territory of Europe.  In doing it this way we hope to dispel any fears that rob people of amazing experiences awaiting them!

The Meat n Potato’s

The process of globalizing myself has been my first big hurdle. Writing my thoughts down like this and then posting them for the world to see feels slightly outside my comfort zone and so a bit challenging. Writing is just one area I want to improve on. Planning this trip has been the most rewarding of all and sharing it with you is that much more exciting.  This process is seriously a learning curve for me. I want this to be my job one day and so I am going take this venture seriously.  This is a huge leap for Shelley, Cody, and I, so if you have any thoughts, ideas, or recommendations we are open to hearing anything that can help us do it better. We are ready to take on whatever role necessary to get you, our reader, engaged, informed, and entertained throughout this entire process.  So let us know!

Buzzzz you later,
Sierra

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