Giving Back

*Photo property of RYE FL

This weekend I had the opportunity to give back to Rotary Youth Exchange, the program that made my year in Brazil possible. I got to meet the 65 students from Florida who will be spending the 2015-2016 school year in countries all over the world. It feels like yesterday that I was in their shoes but instead I am now the one who supposedly has all the advice and answers. I spent the weekend volunteering at these students' first orientation and seeing how excited and nervous they were about the year ahead of them. Knowing what that year did for me, I can not even begin to explain to them how wonderfully I was impacted, or how much change they will undergo. The experiences they will have will last a lifetime and I was so thankful to have had the chance to meet them and impart some small nuggets of advice on them.

Seven lucky students will be going to Brazil this upcoming year. I met each of them and when it was time to sit down and help decide where in the country each would go, all of the students I met, places I went and experiences I had rushed through my head. I hope that each will find that the place they are located it the absolute best place that they could be. My hope for each of them is that they come out of their experiences with as much love for their city and for the country as I did.

Brazilian flag flying from my boat on the Amazon River