My entire life I was always itching to be outside. The dynamic atmosphere of being outdoors was always more entertaining than staring at different versions of four bare walls inside my house. The creek running through the backyard or the noise of the lawn mowers on Sunday afternoons was a chaotic peace for my childhood brain. I would even mow the lawn myself.

As I have grown, this idea has developed into expensive traveling. A school trip pulled me to Spain and Portugal. I learned the dramatic history of the land and was proven wrong in thinking I was a good driver. Seven lanes of traffic when the lanes are imaginary is not only in the movies.

While I am fortunate that many family trips did not come out of my own pocket, the addiction to new places never matched my bank account. Realizing the lifestyles, that would otherwise be nonexistent to my experience, fed the pit in my stomach of what I could see, but cant afford. The meaning of outdoors had become expensive.

Coming to UGA is the perfect compromise. It is away from home with a mix of lifestyles yet justified in its costs and benefits. My interest in the outdoors has become an interest in Athens, and a second childhood has begun.