Adventure is Out There!

It feels like it has truly been forever since I last posted here. (and well...I guess it has :)  At the end of last semester, I completed my independent study course for which this blog was originally designed as well as a final project that I am very proud of.  Throughout the course of the past semester, I had the distinct honor to personally interview Holocaust survivors along with my history professor and pay tribute to their stories through the compilation of a Shutterfly project.  Above is a picture of the title page of the book.  However, further inside is a collection of photographs, interviews, and stories that have deeply touched me and I hope will touch those who see this project.

As I transitioned from last semester into my final semester at college, I have realized my true passion for history and am seeking experiences to try and integrate this passion into life after college.  As of right now, the adventure awaits on the horizon!  I have just applied to an internship that would allow me to travel to Poland for the summer and hopefully continue pursuing my interests in the Holocaust in the setting where many of these atrocities took place.  In addition to this experience is another where I would have the opportunity to travel to Auschwitz with Eva Kor, one of the twins who survived the Nazi medical experimentation of Dr. Josef Mengele, and tour this death camp alongside a woman who survived these horrors.  What a true honor these experiences would be...

As I look forward to life after graduation, I feel drawn to pursuing opportunities in history and following these passions.  As I continue to express my love for history and pursue these opportunities, I am amazed at the continued stories that I have the honor of listening to, the opportunity to take part in the lives of these men and women, hearing how they were each affected  by the Holocaust.  For lack of a better phrase, these people seem to "keep coming out of the woodwork": a granddaughter traveling to Poland to meet the family who is responsible for hiding her Jewish grandmother during the war and a Holocaust survivor responsible for creating a sculpture outside the Jewish Life Center in Seattle, to name a few.  They hear of my passions and the work that I have done and in turn, want to share their stories with me.  I am truly in amazement at this honor and how blessed I am to have these opportunities!  I consider these stories as confirmation--that these interests should not stop simply because I am graduating, but that it continues.  While I am uncertain about the exact direction life will take, it is certainly an adventure that I am willing to jump in feet first and see where it takes me!  For now, Poland is the best way that I could imagine taking this first leap!

So, here goes.... :) Nothing but a passionate heart and willing to jump into the unknown!