When I started putting this blog together last summer, I only began writing posts to just give some background and context to my future endeavors.  As far as I was concerned, my journey would only start once I truly left my neighborhood.  As the date crawls closer to my departure date, I realize that nothing could be more fantastically false, unless I had actually left a few months ago when I initially planned my trip to New Zealand.

Three months ago, I was more than ready to book it to New Zealand, or any country for that matter, free of any connections or obligations.  Three months ago, I wasn't ready to travel anywhere at all because I wasn't living at all; I was just waiting and watching time pass me by until October 12, 2012 arrived.

Until  I started working at my summer job, my day consisted of three things: I woke up, I ate, and I ran.

Then I started working somewhere, where I found someone who genuinely cared about his work a lot, who was so dedicated to helping others that if he organized an event, dozens of people always attended because of what he did for them.  People were constantly supporting him because his desire to help them and others was just that infectiously wonderful.

I can't say I an extremely altruistic person because I'm not even close.  But something about this attitude set my life in motion and influenced my perspective, even if only a little bit.

Suddenly, I wasn't waiting for that deadline as if it were going to be the arrival of the Messiah or something and I just ripped the countdown to my flight out of my notebook.  My mind was no longer waiting at a airport on some metaphysical plane, and I actually started accomplishing things.

I call it my Year of Summer.  It's a wonderful alternative to a public university education that has allowed me to enjoy my life.

This September, I have forged relationships that I never thought I was capable of having.  I have learned so much about myself, and I have found assurance that I will make friends and find things I love, wherever I go. I'm no longer chomping at the bit, eager to make the great escape.  Instead, there will be a bittersweet departure from the City of Brotherly Love and a more prepared Becca trekking to a new continent.