You Can Call Me Crazy.

Nameste, from Great Falls, MT - the 2nd most foreign city I'll be spending my summer in. As the days dwindle down, my bags from Ames remind me that they need to be unpacked so I may start another leg on my summer journey. Nevertheless, I wanted to provide a space for all my friends and family to come together and read about my journeys abroad this summer as I travel to Kathmandu, Nepal during June 2009.

I must back up and explain to a lot of you whom read our annual Adkins Christmas (More formally know as Valentines Day) Letter, as to why I am no longer going to Switzerland.

The Friday before Spring Break I learned that I was accepted to study abroad in Leysin, Switzerland for the summer 2009. I was SOOOO excited. I was going somewhere less traveled, somewhere I could "submerse myself in culture," (Or so I thought...) and somewhere beautiful ....pretty much my only three requirements. A week and a half after returning from Spring Break I learned from KEI, the program I was traveling with, that the University I was to be studying at was closing their doors after the spring semester. How they did not know that they were closing their doors 3 1/2 weeks prior is beyond me, but it opened the door for another opportunity. (And saved me from weeks of trouble I knew awaited me had the problems and doubts I was having about the company to begin with kept up).

They provided me with a small travel grant for the "inconvenience" after which I decided I was going to go to Ireland. Long story short, I got my invoice to go to Ireland and pretty much freaked out -- it was WAY to much $$$ in my book to spend for 4 weeks in a country I wasn't really interested in visiting at this point in my life.

Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to go to Ireland someday, but like I said earlier, I wanted to go somewhere less traveled....somewhere I probably would never go once I started a family. Looking back on it, the University in Switzerland closing was a blessing in disguise. As people found out I was going there I discovered that more and more people had traveled there and the country itself was starting to loose its appeal. After all, Switzerland has a culture, but I still think I would have been too comfortable there.

Back on track -- I got the invoice to go to Ireland and didn't know what to do. My dad was on a rafting trip down some river in Oregon and I was pretty much stuck. After thinking long and hard about it, I decided that I was no longer going to Ireland and had to quickly come up with a plan to do something else with my summer.

In the mean time, I am scrambling to figure out what classes I can take at ISU during the summer and began thinking of where I could work to keep myself busy. Seeing as how I was a CA in the res. halls during the school year I figured that I could apply to be a CA for the summer; little did I know that the application deadline had closed a few weeks prior; I didn't bother to read the e-mail because after all, I was going to Switzerland. After learning that I began to seriously think I was going crazy -- why would I spend my $$$$ to stay in Ames over the summer when I could go to Ireland for 4 weeks - at this point, I saw my only option to saving $$$ to go home.

This same week that my world was caving in on me I was sitting in the dining center one night and something inside of me reminded me that there was a PT club meeting that night....in 5 minutes. I wasn't going to because it was for a school of which I did not meet the requirements (Who takes calculus in college - seriously...;)). However, my gut feeling was to go to the meeting and see if they had any other information they could offer me that I did not already know about.

So I went. During this meeting the lady spoke about how the U of M allows their students to do their clinical rotations abroad. NO WAY! I started thinking that maybe studying abroad at this point in my life wasn't meant to be. Never in a million years did I think I could study abroad as a grad student. I went home and immediately tried calling my mom again - Attempt #101 and I still got a voicemail. I kept calling until she finally answered and literally cried for 20 minutes straight. I had spent my entire college career looking forward to this summer...the summer where I could go far far away and experience something other than America.

After I got off the phone with her I began researching opportunities to study abroad as a graduate student, when I randomly came across a website which allows volunteers the opportunity to travel and volunteer abroad. It was too good to be true. The cost of the program was nearly 1/4 of that to go to Switzerland and Ireland, I would be living with a host family, and I would be volunteering in Physical Therapy clinic for an entire month - I could not have had a bigger smile on my face.

I researched the company the opportunity was through to make sure they were legit - and they were. I was literally just browsing through the places I could go and saw that there was an opportunity to go to Nepal - NEPAL? I've always wanted to step foot on Mt. Everest....it wasn't real. I couldn't have been real. I knew immediately where I wanted to apply to go.

Long story short, within 72 hours I had talked to the a representative, applied, and was accepted to the program -- a program that normally takes two months to be processed through.

So there you have it. I am going to Nepal. It still hasn't hit me yet. I've been doing tons of research but in my head it just feels like I am going on another road trip....I'm sure that will all change when I land in Kathmandu.

I have never been more confident in something I have wanted to experience. I am more confident about wanting to go to Nepal than I was to come to Iowa State and that is a BIG statement. I am excited to go somewhere new. Somewhere I know nothing about. Somewhere where I know NO one. A place where I can truly submerse myself in a culture different than my own so that I may see the world differently.

I ask for your prayers and good thoughts while I am abroad. I will not have access to my phone and I am not sure how often I will be able to make it to the internet, but when I do, I can guarantee I will update my blog in regards to all my cultural experiences. Please feel free to shower me with e-mails while I am away (alexandria.adkins@gmail.com) -- I will do my best to respond but if I don't, I will be more than happy to call and chat your ears off for hours when I return ;)....not that you needed to send me to Nepal for me to do that anyways :).

Last, but certainly not least, big shout-outs to: my friends who listen to me go on daily about my trip; to Ms. Linda G., my advisor, mentor, and friend who wrote enough good things about me to prove to Switzerland I was worthy, and then again to Projects Abroad that I would fit better in their program anyways; to my mother who listened to me try and get my life put back together; to my dad who made the finances happen and for being scared for me; and to my baby sister who thinks I am going to starve. I love you ALL!