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The best thing to happen to me in 2013, next to graduating from college, was definitely moving to Portland. This city is like no other and I can't wait to go back in 2015. But first, let the year of wanderlust commence. Happy 2014! Image credit: Scott Branscum

#portland #wanderlust #IPSL #pdx #2013 #2014 #new year

I have been given the opportunity to travel to South Africa this summer as an added experience for my Master's of Arts in International Development and Service Learning. Eight of my peers and I will be traveling to Cape Town, South Africa and will be conducting social research as a group during our 5 week stay. In addition, each student will hold an internship with a nonprofit organization in Cape Town. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work side by side with development actors in South Africa. Any donation will help me to take advantage of a unique learning experience.

**Click the heading to visit my page and make a donation**

Looking back at Portland

I made it back to Wisconsin yesterday, and although I'm so excited to see my friends and family, I already miss Portland. I figured I would post a single post to answer the question "What did you do in Portland?" Get ready for a lot of pictures people...

I started my time in Portland with my mom and my best friend, Nikki. They stayed for a long weekend to make sure I was all set up and ready to go. I don't think I would have been able to do it without them.

The first weekend (aka the day after I met the people in my cohort) a few girls and I went to LagerFest, a beer festival in SE Portland. It was the best bonding experience for us, and a great way to start the semester. Not to mention a great way to try a bunch of local brews!

The first few weeks, my cohort spent a lot of time on the green in the middle of campus. It was nice to have an hour break 2 days a week and be able to get to know each other better outside of the classroom.

We also took a group hike along the 4T trail in Portland. The T's (train, trail, tram, trolley) take you in a nice square throughout downtown Portland, and up to Council Crest, the highest point within the city. From Council Crest, you can get a good look at all the surrounding mountains (Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mount Adam, etc,) This is a photo of Mount Hood.

It's a big thing in the warmer months to host outdoor movies (Portlandia, anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foycHWwif_0). Kim, Beth, and I went to an outdoor movie about urban farms, and even Will Allen of Growing Power in Milwaukee was featured!

Leah, my friend from Hawaii, and her boyfriend Kanae had bought tickets for OneRepublic, Sara Barielles, and Serena Ryder at Edgefield way back when, and she was kind enough to say Kim and I could tag along if we found tickets (Shout out to Jeff from Craigslist!) It was an awesome concert, and Edgefield is a pretty nice outdoor venue/compound type thing with breweries, wine cellars, and hotels. This is Kim, Leah, and I after the concert.

If you've ever been a tourist in Portland, you most likely have gone to Voodoo Doughnuts. I'm not a real Portlander yet because I still think Voodoo is delicious, especially at midnight. Leah, Kanae, and I went to Voodoo one weekend after hanging at one of my favorite Portland bars, Bailey's Taproom. Let me tell you, these doughnuts taste so much better when you don't have to wait in line!

In case you weren't aware, grad school is wicked hard. After the first crazy week, a bunch of us went and rewarded ourselves with drinks, food, and tequila shots. Below is Beth, Leah, me, Megan, Mavis, and Shelby, aka the tough souls who really needed those tequila shots.

I think as grad students, we have a habit of rewarding our hard work with food and drinks. After spending the whole day working really hard on some project, Mavis, Kim and I went and got this HUGE pizza and a pitcher of PBR. We deserved it, trust me.

Portland gets a real bad rap for being cloudy and rainy 24/7/365. Although it was rainy a lot and I lost some shoes to the rain, when it is sunny in Portland, it is the most beautiful place. Kim and I took a trip to Rocky Butte to check out Mount Hood on a perfect, clear fall day. And then we locked ourselves in the library for hours upon hours.

Wednesdays were the new weekends in grad school. Actually just one was. Kim, Mavis, and I went to the Doug Fir Lounge to catch a concert by people I hadn't even heard of (Jeremy Messersmith and BOY). But guess what, it was an amazing concert and the best Wednesday ever. We even got to hang out with both bands after the concert, and the lead singer of BOY gave me her beer in the middle of their set, so we are basically BFFs.

As a cohort, we took a trip to the Oregon coast to stay at Cannon Beach for a short weekend trip. Holy cow. It was cold, but it was beautiful. Cannon Beach is home to Haystack Rock, the iconic rock from the opening scene of the Goonies. The photos do not do this place justice, and it is somewhere I definitely need to go back to.

One of the big things that I got to help with at my internship with "I Have a Dream"-Oregon, was their annual fundraiser event Dream Big. It was a perfect night at the Portland Art Museum, and it was so fun being a part in such a big event. We raised $335,000 in one night!

A huge theme of Portland was dressing as twins on accident. It happened to all of us so often, that by the end of the semester we were never surprised. This is me and Kimmy twinning.

If you know me well, you know I do not like hamburgers/ground beef whatsoever. But, the absolute best thing I ate in Portland was...A BURGER. It was called the Angry Rhino and was at Bar Bar on Mississippi Street. It had housemade BBQ sauce, an onion ring, and Tillamook cheddar. It was perfect. And I maybe went back 3 times just for the burger...oops.

Deb welcomed me to her thanksgiving with her friends, and it was the most delicious thanksgiving ever (no offense grandma). I could rant and rave about how amazing Deb is, but I don't think I have enough words. I never expected to become such great friends with her, but I'm so glad we have. She really is the best, ever.

Remember how going to see Jeremy Messersmith and BOY was my best Wednesday ever? Well this other Wednesday is definitely the runner up. Kim and I got coffee at my favorite Portland coffee shop (Barista), and then we stumbled upon Cash, who was giving away free bouquets at his flower stand with a suggested donation for meals on wheels. Plus the sun was shining. So it was perfect.

The whole semester started with a beer fest, so of course we had to end with one too. This time it was the Holiday Ale Fest at Pioneer Courthouse Square, where the big Christmas tree is. Kim, Alisa, Leah, and I tried some amazing seasonal brews and saw some pretty fabulous ugly Christmas sweaters.

The big final project in our hardest class was a development brief and presentation. My group did ours on the insurgency in Southern Thailand, a difficult topic to make light of. But we created a very relevant rap and formed a rap group called $treet Queen$. #ThaiLyfe.

We ended the semester with a nice get together at our professors house. She had some great snacks, bruschetta, beer, and wine. It was the perfect way to have a low key celebration after finishing our first semester of grad school.

Slava, Ashley, Katherine, Leah, and I.

Our professor Teri, Mavis, Suzzanne, Kim, Crystal, Alisa, Linda (the director of our department), and Beth.

It was a great semester, and I'm so glad I was able to find a balance between school and exploring Portland. I can't wait to get back in a year, but for now, I'll try to enjoy the cold weather and snow (plus my friends and family) as I prepare for Italy!

Packing.

Over the next year and a half I’m going to live in five different places: Wisconsin; Siena, Italy; Cape Town, South Africa; Chiang Mai, Thailand; and Portland. So that means I’m going to get real good at packing a suitcase and essentially living out of it. I always think about packing as going somewhere new and exciting, as the start of your journey and not the end. However, as I sit on my floor here in Portland folding, rolling, shoving my clothes (half of which I never wore in Portland-you were right mom) I really feel like I’m ending a chapter. Portland was only four months of my life so far, but I feel like I learned so much in these four months. I’m excited about the next year and a half, but I can’t help but leave a tiny bit of my heart here in Portland. I know I’ll be back in a year, which is reassuring. I know my journey is beginning once again and somehow I’m not quite as scared as I was four short months ago when I didn’t want to leave home. Maybe it’s the Red Stripe that is easing my worries. So here’s to the continuation of my travels and here’s to Portland, the best damn city I’ve been to. See you when I see you Portlandia. Bring it on 2014, the year of wanderlust.

This button has been on my backpack since March 2012. However, it doesn’t like to stay there and has fallen off more times then I can count. But every time it falls off, I manage to find it. Either someone returns it to me or I magically hear it hit the ground. I originally put it on my backpack for people to see I went to Jamaica (and maybe know my name). I was always proud of it. Then I came to grad school and learned that short term service trips, like the ones I went on that changed my life, aren’t always the best. I was extremely self conscious because going to Jamaica was my only international experience and I was slowly learning that it might not have been the best way to go about development. So when it fell off two weeks ago I thought it was gone forever, and I was kind of okay with it. I looked at how empty my backpack was, but I figured it was for the best and that it was some sort of sign from the universe that soon, after my Jamaica bracelets fell off, the only piece of Jamaica I would have left would be my memories. Then, like a strike of fate (which seems to be another theme of my life lately) I saw my poor button sitting outside on the steps, missing its pin and looking a little rusty. It was right at my doorstep for two weeks and I overlooked it for two weeks. It had been rained on, and probably was kicked around too, but somehow I somehow managed to find it once again. (*Edit: I found out that my gal Deb found it in the yard. Yet another reason I know we are going to be friends for life.) Call me crazy, but I think this is another sign from the universe. Jamaica is where this whole journey started for me and although my button may fall off and my bracelets may wear away, I will still have my memories. My trip may not have been the best form of development, but it did develop a spark within me that has brought me here today. I will never, ever forget Kemar and the rest of the children I met in Jamaica. Because of them, I’m in Portland today. Because of this button, I’m in Portland today. This button is now going somewhere safe where it won’t fall off and will always serve as a reminder of how this all began.

One Love.

#taylu8

Learning and Dreaming

My school (Concordia University) is a 25 minute walk from my house. It is a small, nay TINY, university with maybe around 2,000 students. We have class in 2 of the 5 buildings. The "cafeteria" is open from 5:30-6:30pm on Sundays. It's seriously tiny. But it's beautiful. From one of our classrooms on the top floor of the library you can see Mt. St. Helens in Washington on a clear day (so I've seen it twice). There's a huge green space in the center of campus that is underutilized but still real nice. I'm pretty sure all the undergrads play sports because they have a HUGE sports complex (baseball and soccer field combination, with a field made of recycled Nikes) and they have 12ish sports between men and women and if my math is correct (which it isn't) that means everyone plays a sport. It's really odd and I always feel overdressed because all these kids are in their warmup gear and I'm walking around in jeans. Our classes are great and really make me work. I'm constantly thinking of class when I'm walking around living my life because the content we are learning is so real and applicable. Oh yeah, in case you made it this far and were thinking "What the hell is she going to school for?" I'm getting my Master's of Arts in International Development and Service Learning. Sorry. But I love school. I don't love all the paper writing and the stress and anxiety I get every week, but it is very rewarding. I have learned that even though I love school and have been in school for 17 years straight, I'm not one of those people who is going to go to school for the rest of their life and get 3 Master's and a couple Ph.Ds. No thanks. This program has gotten me jazzed for the real world and for the career I will make for myself with all this great knowledge. Bring it on, life.

So on top of school, the program is structured to include a service placement. Basically an internship with more focus on hands-on work and less focus on running to get coffee and fixing the copier. I'm fortunate enough to have my placement with "I Have a Dream" Oregon. They have adopted an elementary school in East Portland (Alder Elementary) as their "Dreamer School". Alder is in between Portland and Gresham, OR, in a low-income neighborhood. I Have a Dream (IHAD) works with the school to ensure that the students who stay on the Alder track (as in complete 5th grade at Alder, and move to one of the two middle schools in the district and finally to the high school) will go off to college. My explanation never does justice to the amazing work we do, so you should check out their website. My role in all of this is mostly working with the mobility reduction coordinator. Essentially, because Alder is in a low-income area, many of the families are homeless or live in transitional housing. Because we want them to stay on the Alder track, we want to make sure they live within our boundaries. I have created a Housing Resource Guide with information about housing options within our boundaries. This was extremely difficult. First, I never knew housing assistance options were available. The mobility reduction coordinator is so wise and she taught me a lot about everything related to housing. Second, speaking to landlords is terrifying. Which was good, because I was able to weed out bad landlords who were jerks to me, meaning our families won't have to waste their time with them. It's been a rewarding experience so far, and IHAD has been so welcoming to me. I also helped with our big fundraising gala event, Dream Big. Overall, I really lucked out with my service placement, not to mention I'm the only one in my cohort who has been served wine while at work. Not only have I learned so much about the non-profit sector, housing assistance, and the Portland community, I have also established some great connections and friendships with the Dream Team. It will be exciting to come back in January 2015 and either work with IHAD again, or at the very least stay in contact with them.

Basically I love Portland. I'm so happy to be getting my Master's here. I'm sad to leave in 3 weeks and not return for a year, but I know my time in Italy and Thailand will be just as great and that Portland will be waiting for my return!

Here's some photos for some visuals..

This is my cohort hanging out on the green on one of the first days of schools. It's really a beautiful campus..

This is my mom and I in front of Deb's house (where I live) right after I moved in back in August.

Finally, here is Dream Central, aka I Have a Dream's office. It's on the top floor and just a short, 20 minute walk from my house.

Portlandia.

Here I am in Portland, with only 3.5 short weeks until my first semester of graduate school is over. Wow. This is so hard to grasp, especially because my first semester of undergrad seemed to last forever (then again I did spend most of that semester friendless and alone). I have realized over the past three months that this isn't undergrad by any means. The only thing undergrad and grad school have in common is the fact that you take classes at a degree granting institution. That's it. Now, that's not to say I wasn't prepared for grad school (I wasn't) and that undergrad gave me nothing to work with (it did), but graduate school is so different and so hard. Everyone tells you it's going to be a lot of work but that's what they say about undergrad and I still got away with skipping classes, never opening a book, and writing papers the night before they were due. That doesn't cut it in grad school. I like to think I had a leg up on everyone else because I'm fresh off the undergrad train, but honestly it didn't matter, we were (and still kind of are) chasing after the grad school train trying to hop on. Luckily, my cohort is made up of 19 unique individuals who all have something different to offer to our experience and make up the best support system I could ask for. I was terrified my first semester of grad school was going to be a lot like that first semester at UW-L: alone, trying to find friends, trying to figure out who I was, and trying to figure out who to eat dinner with every night. Lucky for us, we had no other choice but to become friends because guess what-for the next two years we are stuck with each other. And honestly, there's no one else I would want to go through this journey with. We come from all walks of life and from all over the country. Some of us have been out of school for years and some of us have just ended service with AmeriCorps. The dynamic between the 19 of us is perfect. It has really added to my learning experience already. Enough about the people, let's talk places.

Portland is great. The end. Period. I love it. I live with a lady (Deb) who is a head chef at a great restaurant in Portland. So I've tried many new foods and have eaten well since I've been here. Deb is the perfect host and will be a lifelong friend of mine. Her and I watched Home Alone together (the first time she's ever seen it) and she loved it. That's how you know it's real, I don't trust anyone who doesn't like Home Alone. The house is situated in Northeast Portland--Portland is divided into 4 quadrants+an extra area(southwest, southeast, northwest, northeast, plus north Portland). I think a theme of my life is living by a river. I've never actually been a river person (as in boating, swimming, canoeing, so on and so forth), but I've always lived in a town on a river. And crossing the river is real and has meaning. In Prescott, everything was across the river (Thanks Minnesota!). In La Crosse, crossing the river meant I was going home, cruising up Highway 61 and hoping I didn't get stuck behind someone slow in the no passing area. Now in Portland, crossing the river is like crossing into a whole new place. On the west side of the river is downtown (southwest Portland) and the more business area (northwest Portland). When I cross the Willamette (wil-LAM-ette for you midwesterners) is the only time I feel like I'm in Portland. Living in northeast Portland doesn't feel like I'm in the big bad city. That's why I love Portland.

Here's a cute little illustrated map of Portland. The Willamette flows North-South so if you tilt you head to the right, that's what it looks like. The fourth bridge from the left (the Burnside bridge) cuts Portland North and South and the Willamette cuts it West and East. Not an accurate map, but it's cute. Okay you can untilt your head ;)

This was getting incredibly too long...so keep posted for updates on school and my service placement and then maybe the things I've seen and done in Portland so far.

Switching Focus...

I started this blog in 2012, right after I returned from my second Alternative Spring Break trip. I thought it would be a way for me to channel my passion of non-profit organizations, service learning, and change into one place. However, as blogs seem to typically go, I lost track of it and let it fall into the black hole that is the Internet. But I'm back. And this time I'm going to chronicle my journey through grad school. No longer am I looking to make a change-I'm looking to make an impact. I'm looking to create a sustainable program or initiative that will ease the struggles of inequality, economic hardship, or human rights violations. So please, won't you join me on this adventure they call graduate school?

The flag of Jamaica.

Yellow is for the golden sunshine.

Green is for the lush vegetation of the island.

Black is for the strength and creativity of the people which has allowed them to overcome the odds.

This flag not only symbolizes the country of Jamaica, but it also serves as a constant reminder to me of the people it represents. The people of Jamaica have impacted my lives in more ways than they know. I wear these colors on my wrist daily and seeing those colors and thinking about how much it means to those people helps me to focus on what I'm meant to do.

5thBDay

USAID has a new campaign called "5th Birthday". It is a campaign to spread awareness about preventable child deaths in hopes to end these deaths that mostly occur before the age of five. We can end preventable child death as we know it in our lifetime. USAID has solutions such as prenatal care, postnatal care, nutrition, sanitation, and immunization. When children reach the age of five, they are more likely to be able to overcome health challenges. USAID has created a photo album of pictures of people from across the world at age five, along with their wishes for the world's children.

This is me at age five. My wish is that all children may be able to enjoy their lives and laugh.

Click here for more about the 5thBDay Campaign

Lately I've been struggling with what the future holds. What kind of career do I want to pursue? What will life be like after graduation? I've thought about what it best for me and how scared I am for my future. Today I realized it isn't about me. Today I've decided that whatever I do, I need to make sure I am directly helping children and people just like Kemar. It's been 3 months and Kemar hasn't left my mind. He is not only my motivation to make a change, but he also fuels my determination to do good in the world. It is my future, but it isn't all about me. It is about who I can reach and how that will change them, how it will change me, and how it will change the world.

Be someone who makes someone else look forward to tomorrow

@sevenly

(follow them on twitter)

I need Africa more than Africa needs me.

Awesome message, sums up my exact feelings.

“Giving is living. If you stop wanting to give, there’s nothing more to live for.” -Audrey Hepburn

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

Arthur Ashe

Doing what you can is crucial to life. You may not be able to do everything, but everyone can do something. And it doesn't matter how small that something is. You're taking action and that's all that matters. "Sometimes it's okay if the only thing you did today was breathe."

Dreams don't work unless you do.

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, then by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

--Mark Twain

I think I need to learn how to sail. It is the perfect metaphor for life. I'm absolutely proud of all of the accomplishments I have made over the past 20 years, but now is the time to pursue the things I've been scared to it. I can't control the future but it's time to reach out and make my dreams happen. What you have already done is over and in the past, it makes you who you are, but what really counts is what you are going to do tomorrow. Start sailing..

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