About Letter From Russia

We shall not cease from exploration.
And the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
– T.S. Eliot

I write this as I begin one of the greatest adventures of my life! I’m off to Russia to volunteer in orphanages for eight weeks. Then I’ll spend another two weeks hopping trains and wandering wherever the tracks (and my own two feet) take me. For 10 weeks, my life will be about being a foreigner, a stranger, an observer, and a student of new places, people and cultures. I hope to use this time to explore who I am and the world I live in, and to remind myself how great my life really is.

My goal is to give, but most of all, to grow. It’s time to be uncomfortable for a while, to adapt to unfamiliar situations, to rediscover senses and sensations that have been dormant too long. I hope to come back more patient, kinder, more compassionate, more passionate, more grateful, and with a renewed sense of what’s important. And I hope to pick up some wild adventures, gut-busting belly laughs and great new friends along the way.

Thanks for stopping by to check out this chronicle of my journey. Please leave your comments — a word from friends and loved ones brings a bit of home to a far-away heart like nothing else can!