The Beginning.....

After high school, I spent a year in Norway as an exchange student. It changed my life. All through my teenage years I was obsessed with other cultures….learning about foods, spiritual beliefs and daily life. I often pondered what would it be like to have been born somewhere else? What of my beliefs would be different, just by the location of my birth? Finally, after going to Norway I was able to experience that for myself. It was safe for me at that time, as Norway is not that different, demographically from the US, but I was in for such a surprise. It was so hard being thrust into a new environment where you don’t speak the language and where you don’t know a single soul. But it was also exhilarating! It was a chance for me to be ME. No one knew me there, so I was able to be myself to the fullest extend. It was liberating! At the same time, I was like a sponge, soaking up the culture and the language and knowing for the first time what it was really like to be in a different environment. It was challenging in so many ways, but I had never felt so ALIVE!