For months, I have been telling anyone who is willing to listen about the upcoming year. Everyone that I know and their mothers know that I’ll be spending the following 8 months in Senegal. I have been so excited and afraid at the prospect of being away from home and the United States for so long, but I didn’t realize I had entirely the wrong perspective.
Upon landing in the San Francisco airport this morning and coming to the Global Citizen Year welcome station, I met 2, then 3, then 10 different interesting people my age. We are all going through the same experience together, and it dawned on me that I have the opportunity of a lifetime this year. I get to meet an incredible amount of new people also flying out of their comfort zone, and then share my life with people who have never set foot in the United States. The only way to take full advantage for a program like this one is to look at the beauty in front of you and not worry about the unimportant things behind you.
