Amman to Prague: Summer 2012!

This summer promises to be the best in my life! I want to come back to this blog to share my adventures as I bounce around the globe. Now, just three weeks before my departure I have completed my plans! It is finally all becoming real to me, and now is all I can think about.

First Stop: Amman, Jordan 

June 23rd to July 15th

I will stay Amman for three weeks to work on my Arabic. I loved learning Arabic in Cairo two years ago and have kept up with it in school this year, but it has been a major challenge. So I am going to practice and learn as much as I can! I will take classes at an Arabic school and stay with a host family. 

Amman is also close to some places on my life list, such as the incredible Petra: 

Second Stop: Jerusalem, Israel

July 15th to 21st

This is another place on my life list, and as it is close to Amman I thought this summer the perfect opportunity to go! I hope my life will involve working for peace and to repair the damages left by conflict. Jerusalem, so close to the hearts of so many, seems at least peripherally involved in many of our worlds conflicts. I hope that by breathing the air, walking the streets, I will better understand this place and the bloodshed surrounding it. 

Third Stop: Berlin, Germany

July 21st to 28th 

Germany is important to me because of the incredible friends I have who live there. While I lived in Cambodia last year I became friends with a number of volunteers from Germany, and we have stayed friends sense returning home.

Me, Tim, and Niamh in Bangkok. Niamh is Irish but she is joining me in Berlin to visit our German friends: Tim, among others. It has been over a year sense we have seen each other. 

Fourth Stop: Vienna, Austria

July 28th to August 6th

Here I will meet up my family! My mother, step father, uncle, grandfather, two sisters, Niamh and I will explore the museums, churches and restaurants of this beautiful city. 

Fifth Stop: Prague, Czech Republic

August 6th to August 12th

My final stop with my family this summer, and another place on my life list! 

I would like to end this blog by dedicating it to John Colborn, who made my adventures in Jordan and Israel possible. John is one of my favorite traveling companions and the best 'bio-dad' I could have ever hoped for. Thank you so much for supporting my travels around the world!

With an Orangutan and her baby in Indonesia, 2011