By the time I was 11 years old, I was fairly well traveled. I took family trips so several states including California, Arizona, New York, and even traveled out of the country to Canada. I took my first flight at 10 and a half months old, so I never had a chance to develop a fear of heights or of flying. Travel was, and still is a staple in my life. I jumped at the chance to take road trips, cruises, flights, anything that would allow me to see something unfamiliar. My love for travelling took my all the way to the other side of the world, but this time was different: I was travelling by myself.
The summer before sixth grade, I thought I would doing things a normal ten year old would do. Going to summer camp, going to the pool every day, having sleepovers with friends, preparing for my last year of elementary school. Instead, I was preparing for a two week trip to Australia. Earlier that year, I came home from school and found a letter sitting on my bed with a navy blue and burgundy emblem resembling the globe. The letter was from an organization called People to People, what I later learned was a student ambassador group that broadens their studies of the world by travelling to different countries and learning hands on about their languages and cultures. I read the letter and discovered that I was nominated to become a student ambassador by someone, although they would not tell me who, and that if I was interested in travelling to Australia, to attend an interest meeting. After the meeting, my mother and I both were sold. The cost was a little high for my mother's budget, but my family members and friends were more than happy to help out so that I could have this once in a lifetime experience.
Me and 13 other middle school aged kids from all over the region of southern Maryland, along with two group leaders, boarded the plane to LAX on a Monday morning where we would later board the 22 hour flight to Australia. While I was excited to embark on this journey, I was terrified to be apart from my mother. I had never been separated from her for more than five days in the past and it was even scarier to know that she was half the world away from me. Although I missed her a lot, she made sure to call or text me everyday and always told me to make sure that I was having fun.
Australia is now one of my favorite places in the world. I went snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, took a tour of the Sydney Opera House, tried Vegemite, spent a day at a local middle school, made a trip to the outback, went to the Australia Zoo, had a mini 11th birthday party and even got to hold a koala. Every time I think I'm not as lucky as other kids who take trips with their parents all the time, I think of how blessed I was to have the opportunity to be an Aussie for two weeks.
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