I love learning about different cultures, geography, history, and traditions. When I have the time, I enjoy traveling for conferences, trainings, special events, or vacations to expand my experiences of the people and cultures from around the world. Over the past 30+ years, I have been to more than 50 countries on 6 continents and hosted two high school exchange students from Germany and Norway for a school year (2016-2017) which was an amazing experience and expanded my family!
I am excited for an upcoming experience on the Semester at Sea, a semester-long study abroad program for more than 500 college students from around the world onboard the World Oddessy, where we will traverse the globe, learning about and visiting 12 or more countries throughout the voyage. It has been a dream for more than 15 years, so I am grateful to embark as the Care Team Coordinator on this exciting voyage!
A recent highlight included visiting the Carribean for the Holistic Holiday at Sea vegan cruise and seminar (2023) where I was able to enjoy many great health-related presentations about the benefits of a whole food plant-based diet, meet wonderful like-minded professionals, and eat a variety of delicious vegan foods. Other highlights included Puerto Rico for a group counseling conference (2020) and cruising the Southern Caribbean (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) before the COVID-19 lockdown (2020) as well as visiting Ireland (2019), my exchange students in Norway and Germany (2017), immersing myself in the Bosnian history and culture for two weeks with a group of university faculty (2017), cruising the beautiful Croatian coast (2017); taking a Smokey Mountain road trip across 5 states (2015); cruising the Hawaiian islands (2014); visiting the Great Wall in China (2013); cruising the Southern Caribbean islands (2013); weathering a snowstorm with family in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (2013); taking a Pacific Coast road trip from San Francisco to San Diego (2012); seeing Sedona and the Grand Canyon in Arizona (2010); meeting family and touring Germany (2009); visiting the pyramids, temples of Egypt, and a river cruise down the Nile (2007); and enjoying two Alaskan cruises (2005, 2008). Other fun travels have included conferences in Hawaii, Denver, Phoenix, Nashville, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh, and Williamsburg; weddings in Florida, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin; and other cruises to Mexico, Honduras, Belize, St. Thomas, Turks & Caicos, San Juan, Grand Cayman, Roatan, Bahamas, and the Caribbean.
