On the road again...

Hello and welcome to my blog! 2 years ago I did a travel adventure, Sabbatical #1 I'll call it :-), and having a blog was a way for me to journal my experiences and also for people to check, "Where in the World is Ellen?" Or Travellen (get it? Travel Ellen. haha!). Actually, I created it more so for my parents, but as they are not too computer savvy, they didn't check out my blog until after I got home. Oh well. Then came the "you did WHAT?"... in reference to a couple of bungee jumping experiences I had, he he. (http://travellen.travellerspoint.com/).

As I embark on my Sabbatical #2, I'll be using this to post pictures as well as entries on my travels, so stay tuned! I'll try to make it as entertaining as I can! This Sabbatical is different than my last one because my last one was pure travel, sightseeing, and fun. This will definitely have all of those, BUT I'm going to be doing some international health volunteering, which is something I've always wanted to do. I'm actually really looking forward to learning and expanding my knowledge about rehabilitation as I volunteer, shadow/observe, and teach in 4 totally different environments: Ghana, Norway, Serbia, and India respectively. So far, it looks like I'll be spending about 2 months each in Africa, 2 months in Europe, and 2 months in India - crazy that I'll (hopefully) be back in 2011... just in time for the dead of Chicago winter. Wah wah.

I'll miss the comforts of home and not living out of a backpack, but hey, then I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the things 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

So off I go, on the road again ... 1st stop is South Africa for the World Cup!!!! Stay tuned!