Up until my recent trip to Australia over winter break, I was pretty much scared of my own shadow. For my whole life, everywhere I traveled whether it was on vacation, or somewhere as simple as picking up take out for dinner I always had to have someone with me because I was scared of being alone. I had always wanted to study abroad, but as a science major it was too hard to fit into my schedule, and deep down I was also scared of being away from my friends and family for an entire semester or even just a few weeks.
About ten years ago when I was on a cruise with my family, I met a girl from Australia named Alexa who ended up becoming my pen pal and life long best friend. We stayed in touch for all of these years, and every winter break Alexa would come to stay with my family for a few weeks, but I was always too scared to sit on a plane for twenty-four hours to go visit her. However, I found out over the summer that Alexa would not becoming to visit me this Christmas, so the only way I could see her was if I visited Continue reading
