#2 Mission Trip to World Travels
Mission Trip to World Travels….say what?!?
How did a mission trip in a tiny village lead to me traveling the world moving every week for an entire year?
Well….buckle up, and let me tell you!! But I am warning you, it’s a pretty wild ride!
Flash back to 18 year old me, a stressed out panicked kid approaching the haunting May 1st deadline (my PTSD is currently rising). I had no idea, like really no idea when it came to college, what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go, what I wanted to study, ect. Here I was comparing myself to my peers who were declaring where they were going and trying to find an answer to tell all the parents asking me what I was doing….I felt like one of the bottle cap spinner toys going 100 mph. So yea….not a fun time!!
My parents could see I was super stressed, which was really odd for me, so they weren’t quite sure what do to. I have always been a happy easy going kid so they knew something was up. So one day they simply told me, “you know Jenn, you don’t have to go to school right away”.
“SAY WHAT???”….(I said in my head)…”REALLY…I don’t?”
It’s like they were speaking another language, because that is just not common, especially in my school. You are expected to go to college right after high school, and know what you wanted to do for the rest of your life at age 18…a little ridiculous right?
So….when I heard that, I started to relax a bit, as some of the pressure was off. But, I still didn’t know what I was going to do….and I had to do something!! So…the pressure wasn’t alllll gone.
The only thing I really knew was….I never felt more alive and myself then I did on that mission trip. (if you don’t know what I am referencing….read my first blog post!)
That trip sparked something in me, and I felt called to do more.
Once I got comfortable with the fact I knew I didn’t have to sign my life away (a bit dramatic I know) to a college on May 1st (funny joke…when I actually decided on school 2 yrs later AHHH SPOILER ALERT….I decided after May 1st (insert emoji with hand over face)….commitment issues? or just really picky?? I think 2nd!), I started looking into GAP YEAR options (yesssss I love that word, and parents you should get more comfortable with it, trust me….it can be super helpful so keep reading!!!)
Alright….let’s get to how it all started!!
CRAZY STORY #1
(Preface: I hadn’t really gotten anywhere yet with options for what to do)
I was at an all day, as in 7am to 5pm, nonstop volleyball tournament with my team and we just finished and were exhausted!!! My face was still beat red! (for me that kind of means purple/red!! yikes!!!)
We were in the locker room grabbing all of our stuff and all of the sudden one of our coaches, Coach Heather (you gotta meet her… she is hilarious!!), comes in and says, “Juli (my bestie since we were like 5) and Jenn, Mrs. Phillips (Juli’s mom) needs to see you quick”. So we go outside and Mrs. Phillips is like “ok you have to change super fast, here are two dresses, Jenn just wear your spandex underneath…. I’ll explain more in the car, but you are going to a show and Jenn you have an audition, so hurry up!!!”.
Umm….excuse me what? I am a bit confused here.
Juli and I are going as quick as we can and are laughing the entire time, like we usually do!! We run out to the car where my mom is waiting, we hop inside, and get on the road. I call Mrs. Phillips since she couldn’t come, and she starts explaining that her best friend from college helps run the Young Americans program, and that they are playing in Boyne City, about an hour and a half away, and she got me an audition. She said, “You’re going to have to play a song on the guitar and sing, and also dance”. (Mind you I have no songs memorized to play or a dance choreographed ). So, we start running through the songs I know, and almost all of them I can’t hit the high notes after screaming on the court all day, so The Best Day by T Swift (great song if you haven’t heard it) was it!!! Mrs. Phillips was like….”Don’t worry, you won’t have to play the whole song…just a little bit of it and you won’t have to dance much either!”
We get there right when intermission hits, and we watch the second half of the show (AMAZING!!!!!) They are all GREAT dancers and singers so I’m sitting there like…”hmmm I’m not sure I even have a chance to make this because….they are realllly good”. Like….I’ve seen a handful of real professional shows and they are equally as good or better, good!!!!
The whole show ends and we are clapping along with the standing ovation, and wait until all people clear out to talk to someone. This girl comes up and says, “Hi, are you Jenn?? We heard all about you and will have you audition when we are done striking the stage!!”.
So we wait, and the longer I wait the more nervous I get.
1:00 am they call me back.
So there I go….barefoot in a sundress, still wearing my nasty v-ball spandex, my guitar in hand, and sweaty hair (cute right?!? :))
I start to sing the song, and they aren’t stopping me!!! (in my head I’m thinking, nervously, “I thought I didn’t have to sing the whole song…I don’t know it all!!!). I finish and they said, “I am sorry we were going to stop you but it sounded so good!” and in my head I’m like: “it would’ve been nice if you did” hehehe half smiling.
Then they ask me to dance. So, I make up a random routine in my head…honestly I have no idea what I did to this day! But oh well….it went great 🙂 🙂
They said I wouldn’t find out for a couple weeks! So I walk back out looking for my Mom and Julz who have been sitting in the car wondering what is taking so long.
I hop in the car and we celebrate with coffee to keep us awake on the drive home, dark chocolate dove bars (72% is my favorite in case you were wondering!! :P), my favorite Thai food my mom packed 🙂 and talk and laugh about the craziness of the day!!….what GREAT MEMORIES!!!!
Fast forward a couple weeks…..I GET ACCEPTED!!! YAY!!!
But, I’m not 100% sure about it because there wasn’t much more than performance involved…so we keep looking into other options, and my anxiety remains. And the haunting question of what I will do after high school continues.
So…..I finally start to do what everyone kept telling me to do, pray!! (shocker coming from a Catholic school right?) And truthfully, I was like “yea, yea, yea ok I know, but I want/need a concrete answer”. But really, I was so lost with all the so called “concrete answers” and I wasn’t getting them, so I decided to give it a shot because I had nothing to lose. So no lie, I would go into the chapel almost everyday and pray for at least 5 to 10 minutes before class or during lunch, any time. And it’s not a lie when I say that things started to fall into place, exactly the way they were supposed to, and now being 5 years later….I AM SO HAPPY!!!! Who knew where my live would be not if I didn’t do what I did.
So…WHAT DID I ACTUALLY DO?
WELL….let me continue to share my story!!!
My mom comes across this group called, Up with People, on her google search one day and tells me that it is an international organization that travels around the world, does mission work, and performs. And I was like….THAT SOUNDS LIKE ME…..I AM IN!!!
So….back to college stuff.
It was time to tell the colleges I applied to and was looking at, that I was looking into taking a gap year and wanted to see if it was possible to defer my acceptance and still qualify for the scholarships I had been awarded. I told them I was looking into traveling with Young Americans or Up with People. Quick, easy, done!! (Big sigh :)).
2 weeks later
I still can’t believe the email I got from one of the colleges I reached out to, Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame. It was from an admissions counselor who somehow got my email passed on to her. Come to find out, she traveled with Up with People as a student and then worked for the organization for 7 years. She told me all about her experience, her best stories, and said that if I got accepted and traveled that it would change my life!!!
After reading this email and hearing about her amazing experience, I WAS HOOKED!!!! and I knew that
THIS WAS ME!!!!!
SO…..I applied, got my interview, went and saw them in Topeka Kansas, the last city before they went to Europe, and I fell INLOVE!! I literally would have hopped on the bus that day if they asked me to!!!