When I announced plans for my first trip -- 2 months of backpacking Western Europe followed by 4 months of study in Prague -- friends and family were surprised. I've always been shy and quiet, so even I was startled by my determination to travel to another continent by myself. Since then, I've realized that I've always been a traveler in spirit. My childhood was shaped by weekly visits to the library, Robert Frost poems about the road less traveled, and my father's commandment to value knowledge for its own sake. When I applied to college, I didn't even consider staying at home in Oklahoma. I realized that it was my best chance to see a new place without committing to it. If I didn't like it, I knew could get a job back home after graduation. With that in mind, I chose New York University in New York City, a place so different from Oklahoma it might as well have been a different country. The same need to take advantage of opportunity guided my decision to travel. My world expanded when I moved to New York City. I knew I could make it bigger still by traveling. As a junior in college, I was running out of summer vacations, so I knew I would have to start my travels soon. On June 26, 2002 I began a trip that would take me to Ireland, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Egypt. I haven't considered staying home since.

~Meredith