My host family

Well, on Sunday I was able to meet my host family, whom I'll be spending the summer with. I already knew the dad, Alan, because we work together in the kidzone on Sunday mornings, so it was nice to get to know Gwen, his wife, a little better, and also to meet his kids, of which he has four: Asher (10), Hannah (8), Joshua (6), and Caleb (4). Their kids are absolutely adorable and I've already fallen in love with all four of them. It's going to be fun living with them this summer. Alan and Gwen are really nice and really supportive, and they're just sweet people, especially to open up their home like this, when they already have four kids of their own. They say that we probably won't get a whole lot of time to hang out with them because we'll be kept so busy with the Institute, but I hope that that doesn't end up being the case, and I'll be able to spend some good time with them. They seem like some really fun people.

I also got to see Carrie, who will be my roommate for the summer, so it was good to be able to get to know her a little better, since we're going to be rooming together and all. It's always a little awkward rooming with someone you don't know very well, but she and I have been talking things out and trying to get things worked out, and I think we're going to have a lot of fun this summer, so I'm definitely looking forward to it. She's a strong Christian girl and I think we'll be able to learn a lot from each other this summer, which will be really nice. I'm hoping that through all this she and I will be able to become good friends. It'll be fun times. :)

I'll leave for FL on Wednesday and then stay home visiting my family until May 23rd, at which point I'll fly back to Durham, where Carrie and I will move in with our host family. So I probably won't update the blog a whole lot if at all before then, since there won't be a whole lot going on with the Institute, but definitely look for a post once I move in in late May!

Welcome!

The basic concept of this blog is pretty simple. I'll update periodically during my time at The Institute this summer and while I'm in France this fall. It will serve as a means of allowing the people who so desire to know what's going on with my travels and what my thoughts are on them, without me having to worry about emailing a million peoples or trying to remember everyone that I'm supposed to keep in touch with. I'll be able to post adventures, thoughts and feelings, mundane, every-day things, pretty much anything I feel like that relates somehow to my travels. Maybe some of it will be exciting, maybe it will all be boring; who knows? We'll just have to see what happens as we go along. :)