The Beginning of the Adventure

Live life by trying to do everything! You can't judge something if you don't know what it is, and if you have not experienced it once.

In 2006, I was selected as a Truman Scholar (I would rather keep this post short, so if you would like to learn more about it, check out: www.truman.gov). Part of the scholarship program took us to our nation's capital for a whole summer. During this summer program, we were introduced to officials in the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

It was explained to us that in 2005, they had met with the Truman Scholars of that year and were highly impressed with the caliber of individuals and invited them to go to the UAE and experience the culture for themselves. Members of the 2004 Truman class spearheaded this program by writing a grant to help get students to the UAE. (Thanks Anthony Shop and others!) The program, now in its third cycle, is called the Emirati-American Young Leaders Cultural Exchange, funded entirely by the Emirates Foundation.

It is interesting that I am starting this blog while sitting in the terminal in Japan patiently awaiting my flight to St. Paul (the time between flights is 6 hours and 55 minutes) as I received the notification of my invitation to the UAE while in Japan. I was sent to Hachioji, Tokyo for a leadership training for the Rotaract Club. I woke up on our second day in Tokyo, and without fail, the first thing I did was check my email (bad habit? good habit?). My heart was pounding with nervousness as I saw "ACCEPTANCE". When I read the first lines of the email, I yelled and literally jumped up and down like a little kid cashing out in a candy store! My roomies Vince and YooMee were freaking out. I told them the news and proceeded to email my mom, my boss, my co-workers, my professors, and everyone else I knew who would appreciate the news.

When I returned home three days later, I got my travel itinerary via email, and was told by almost everyone around me that I needed to keep them updated on my travels and the best way to go about it was to keep a blog. The Communications Director at the University of Guam kinda made me promise to keep a journal of my experiences and through Therese Hart's insistence, I have created this blog that I promise to update as much as I can ... hopefully everyday ... with stories of my 2 week desert adventure to the middle east.

To keep you entertained for a bit and to keep you thinking until my next post, please check out the following link about what I will be expected to do and not do while in the UAE.

Traveling through a Muslim Country