Austen Introduction
Hello everyone! My name is Austen Sumanis and I am 18 years old. In the past few years I have started to expand my horizons in the form of traveling. This has taken me all over the United States, Canada, and south of the border. One of my favorite places was going to Alaska for an Outward Bound. I was so nervous before the trip about not knowing anyone and if I was strong enough. The closest thing I had done to backpacking was going on a few daylong hike/camping trips with some friends. The trip was 22 days of backpacking in the mountains with 12 others. Its surprising how close you can get to those who you are with 24 hours a day in that amount of time. I found that I enjoy working with a group of people to accomplish a common goal. I found that I also enjoyed the trip more than I thought: met new people, gained self confidence, enjoyed being a leader and a new found appreciation for nature.
I chose India for the adventure and culture of such a diverse country. The class system, the religions, the geography, the politics are so different from us and I wanted to experience it first hand. While I’m there I hope to learn from everyone on the trip and have others learn from me. It just seems like it’s going to be such a different experience, will broaden my horizons and I’ll have a chance to spend my last semester of high school in such an amazing place as India.