Preface: As part of my preparation for this trip and my overall desire to do more during my travels this year, I planned (and am slowly working on) writing a children’s book about a young girl who goes around the world. When I was younger, I knew of countries only as names – not a whole lot more, and I thought it might be interesting (especially with the variety of technology today) to provide an interactive experience for students to possibly follow my blog as I traveled along. In a meager effort to get teachers involved, a very lovely article was written about me in The Cincinnati Enquirer – which can be read here.

I remember the reporter asked what kind of response I had gotten when talking about the project to others and more specifically about the Kickstarter I had set up in hopes to 1. build awareness overall, and 2. raise funds for additional camera gear. I said, “Well, my Mom is super excited about the project!” He laughed, and graciously left that part out of the interview. The Kickstarter turned out to be a total failure. I probably went about it all wrong, and may have a better chance of getting successfully “kickstarted” once I have a finished product, rather than an idea for one. But the article was not. I got an email from Heidi the librarian. (Heidi shares the same name with Andrew’s sister, so I always have to clarify my excitement over emails from Heidi the librarian, otherwise Andrew gets weirded out that I’m emailing his sister behind his back- which I’m also down to do.)

Heidi, a librarian (as well as a friend of a friend, and sister of another friend) at an elementary school in Northern Kentucky wanted to follow my blog with her students! YAY! I got beyond excited about this. Since my last week in Seoul, I’ve been sending postcards to Heidi and her students, while she has been showing my videos, set up a really awesome wall display, had a really great idea to use my blog for lessons involving internet safety, and even allowed students to send questions to me! (How cool is that?) She is obviously the best candidate for “Librarian of the Year” award this year. (Sorry, Mom.)

So, perhaps this will be an on-going part of the blog- if students are interested! Mrs. Nesteide’s 4th Grade Class was the first! They would like to know how I came up with the idea to travel around the world. What’s the farthest away from Kentucky I’ve been, and what’s  my favorite part of my trip so far.

1. They would like to know how you came up with the idea to travel around the world.

When I went to university I studied abroad for a semester- which is about four-five months long (and which you should all do). I was really jealous of the students who studied abroad for the whole year, and decided I wanted to try to live abroad for one year after college. After I did that, I spent two months traveling around Asia, and even though two months is a long time, when I had to come home, I felt like I was just getting started and was a little sad I had to go home, while so many people I had met were traveling for longer lengths of time. So, it just became my dream to spend one year traveling around the world!

2. What’s the farthest away from Kentucky you’ve been?

Hmm, I *think* Bali, Indonesia is the farthest away I’ve been!  Or maybe Cebu, Indonesia. Which one do YOU think is farther away from Kentucky?

What’s your favorite part of your trip so far?

When we were in Halong Bay (in Northern Vietnam) I jumped off of the roof of a boat with six new friends. Think of jumping off the highest diving board at the swimming pool, only if you had to count to three and jump at the same time as all of your friends. That was really fun (and a little scary)! I also crashed a Vietnamese wedding and when investigating what a drum sound was, got caught in a tiny dragon parade. (These videos are coming soon, I promise!) But those were probably my favorite parts of the trip so far!