Hello Everyone,

This is such an exciting time. It is Christmas Night and I'm getting prepared to travel to India. I am really looking forward to this exciting experience. I have tried to think of everything I can to prepare for this trip, but I know I will forget something. I've reviewed the plan of activities and feel we should be able to get a real taste of the Indian culture. I think that is what I'm looking forward to the most. I love to learn about the way others view the world and how they live. I've traveled to Europe, England, Australia, and New Zealand to learn about those countries. I've had foreign exchange students stay at my home to expand my knowledge and now I'm traveling to India to open my eyes to a culture I know very little about.

When I traveled to Australia and New Zealand, it was as the leader of a group of high school students. The organization that we represented was called People to People Student Ambassadors. There was 40 of us with 4 leaders. It was quite an experience. I think traveling with college students will be a lot more enjoyable.

I am almost done with the courses needed to complete my MBA. All I have left are two electives and the capstone class. This trip to India is one of the two electives. Since I love to travel and learn about other cultures, this class fits me very well. When I took the Marketing class, my instructor, who is from India, periodically would talk about India. We did a case study about whether a company should invest in India and he showed us clips of Bollywood films. It really sparked my interest. Then in my Human Resources class, the instructor talked a lot about the resources India has to compete with people from the US. If these instructors hadn't brought India into so many of our discussions, I probably wouldn't have thought about actually going there.

So now the adventure begins. Stay tuned for updates. It will definitely be an experience I will never forget.