Many of us are afraid of going outside of our comfort zone, but the thing is we never really test our comfort zone until we take that first step of faith. Prior to college, I would've never have imagined to travel to so many countries in just a few semesters. This blog is dedicated to my first independent travel experience. An experience of taking control of my own destiny without the judgement of mentors, friends, and parents. When I first learned about MEDLIFE during orientation, I knew this was an organization for me.

 

The acronyms of MEDLIFE stands for Medicine, Education, Development for Low Income Families Everywhere. Once freshman year started, I made sure to attend the general body meeting each month and learn more about the UF's MEDLIFE goals. As I got more involved with the club, an idea came to me. "I should go with MEDLIFE to Ecuador and help people who are less fortunate than me because I was once in those people's position. I truly believe in the law of reciprocity. I was given an amazing gift of being able to attend college on a full ride, so why not give back to others who could use my help. 

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This idea of me traveling outside the country without my parents was a little scary at first, but I've always like to be independent. So, I told my parents and mentor during that winter break and explained to them my vision about this trip to Ecuador. Although my parents were against it, my mentor supported it my aspiration.  My mentor told me: "Go follow your heart and tune out to the world even if it is from your parents." With this advice, I went through with it! I spent my whole spring break in Ecuador providing health care and learning about the cycle of poverty with MEDLIFE. Hands down best experience of my life. It was from this trip that I realized what I wanted to do with my life. Follow my blog to learn more about how this changed my life.