30 Days...

Today is June 10th! In exactly 4 weeks at this time I will be in Denver with my first host family and day 1 of UWP under my belt! Crazy isn't it? The closer I get to fulfilling this dream the more nervous I become! Of course these are good nerves, but the uncertainty of how everything is going to fall in to place and not knowing what exactly we are going to be doing everyday is exciting yet nerve racking at the same time!
Tomorrow our first group assignment via facebook is due and I have learned so much about the 2 countries both my partners are from. Willemijn is from Holland and she is 19 years old and Shiona is from Japan and she is 21! Our first assignment consisted of forming groups of 3 and figuring out 3 similarities and 3 differences! The similarities were a lot easier to come across than I had imagined but it was the differences believe it or not that stumped us a bit! Anyway, this is what we came up with!
Similarities:
1. We all love sushi
2. We all love kids (i.e. working with them and babysitting)
3. We have all worked in some kind of food related job (restaurant, cafe, country club)
Differences:
1. We all heard about UWP in different ways (I saw a the show when I was a child, Shiona heard about it through a friend who traveled with UWP in the past and Willemijn's family became a host family when UWP came through their town)
2. We are in different places as far as career objectives go! (I know exactly what I want to do=be a teacher, Willemijn has a whole bunch of options but isn't sure on which one to pick and Shiona has no clue what she want's to do and is hoping traveling with UWP might give her a better idea)
3. Age limitations in all of our countries are very different!
USA: 16 to drive, 18 is legal, you can buy cigarettes and lotto tickets, 21 to drink and to go to clubs
Holland: 16 to go out and to buy alcohol (but not the strong stuff like whisky lol) and cigarettes, 18 to drive and buy really hard alcohol
Japan: 16 to bike (I'm still trying to figure out if that mean bicycle or motorcycle), 18 to drive, and 20 to buy cigarettes and alcohol!
I found it interesting how in some countries you can drink before you can drive! I also learned a lot of things about schooling in their countries and and hobbies they enjoy! Overall, I really enjoyed the assignment and I think it was a good way to start getting to know my castmates.

Tomorrow brings a new day full of challenges, obstacles and new things to overcome, but to me, it's one day closer to the 6 month journey that will change my life forever!