Hi everyone. I haven’t been in the biggest writing mood, mainly because I am trying to keep up with my New Year’s resolutions, one of those being ‘get and maintain a solid sleep schedule.” 99% of the time my best posts are written between the hours of 1 and 3 in the morning, and that just isn’t cutting it for my body right now.

So, it is only about 9:30 right now at night and I still have plenty of time before my newly created bedtime.

One of my other resolutions (although I’m not sure if I put it on my list and quite frankly I don’t feel like checking) was to volunteer, more specifically volunteer abroad.

Since something I want to do with my life is teach English abroad, I think it is a smart choice to test out what working abroad is like. Yes, traveling is fun but If I don’t like living out of a suitcase or two for a month, what will it be like for an entire semester?

Basically, I have applied to volunteer at an orphanage in Lima, Peru, starting April 1st 2017 and spanning for 4 weeks. This is something I really want to do, not only to see if I enjoy going abroad, but to be able to give my time to children in need is something so rewarding beyond words.

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Phase 1: Get accepted into the program is complete.

Phase 2: Have enough money to fund this trip is almost complete

And finally Phase 3 (yes I know there are so many other things I need to do like get shots, buy proper shoes, etc. but the phases at hand are not those quite yet): convince my parents is a merely 50% complete. I have convinced my mother; she is excited for me and even a bit jealous (going to Macchu Pichu is the top item on her bucket list) however my dad, is a little more reserved and harder to talk to about this type of thing. I brought it up once and he completely grazed over the entire idea, which is, in the least, frustrating.

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So, I have an entire google doc of my trip itinerary and budget planned out, and my dad would rather watch Pitch Perfect 2 than discuss the trip of a lifetime with his eldest daughter. So, while I continue to plot how we ever will discuss this trip, Ill be here, saving all of my money and comparing all the brands of hiking shoes there are.

Alicia