About Us - Rachel

Hey all! So let’s get one thing straight before I start this post. I hate (and I mean absolutely HATE) having to write these sorts of things. It’s not for the obvious reason of making me feel like a pretension, egotistical person. More it’s that I can never think of creative, witty things to say.

                                                                                                                  

As you may have potentially guessed by now, my name is Rachel. I am a freshman at the University of Puget Sound majoring in Comparative Sociology. Long title I know. I could add in my emphasis, but trust me, you don’t want me to go there. Anyways, I hail from the great state of Nevada -- Reno more specifically. In my free time I do fun, collegiate things like eat and sleep and watch copious (my favorite word, I might add) amounts of Netflix. I like dancing and acting and photography (black and white is by far my favorite). I also love the outdoors and just being active. I love to bake and cook and discover aspects of other cultures through their foods and customs. It’s why I can’t wait to go backpacking through Europe. All my favorite things coming together in one beautiful package. And to make this package even better, it will all be made into a book by the end of our journey; allowing me to do another thing I love – write.

I have been to Europe before. In fact my passion for travel and culture was sparked the summer before my freshman year of high school. I had the opportunity to participate in a student ambassador program. We went to 4 countries in 3 weeks. The trip was absolute craziness. We were constantly moving from place to place. The most I saw of some cities with the inside of the hotel room. I never had the opportunity to immerse myself in the cultures around me, and honestly at 14, I didn’t really want to. I was perfectly fine being the tourist, and an obnoxious one at times, I have to admit. And yet, I came back to America with a desire to not just go back to Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and France and really explore the cultures of these countries, but to travel the world.

I have stayed in hotels and gone on group tours and visited the Top 10 Must See Attractions in Rome.  I have been an American tourist rather than the anthropologist. I want to change this. And this trip is the perfect opportunity. I’ll be exploring Europe by foot, bus, and train with a friend. All with the hopes of finding hidden gems along with way.