After graduating from Emmanuel College in the Fenway area of Boston in 2017, my heart called me to serve as a social media intern with HEAL Ministries in Jinja, Uganda.

I believe that the most important kind of love to give and receive in this lifetime is unconditional love—the ability to love a person wholeheartedly, no matter the circumstances or their flaws. My first impression of The James Place is exactly that: everyone involved with HEAL Ministries pours their heart and soul into each day and loves one another unconditionally.

In 10 days I will be graduating college and thrown into the "real world." The world outside of classrooms and dorm buildings, a world I have yet to experience since I have been in school since the age of four.

My older sister Hannah moved to Spain after graduating from college. Since we can never be apart for long, I decided to spend my college winter break visiting her in her new home and exploring Europe. I had never been to Europe before and my bucket list of places I wanted to go and things I wanted to see was pretty long. After a few weeks of planning, we decided that I would fly to Spain to stay with her and then we would meet up with some friends in Italy. After Italy we'd venture to Greece, Poland, and Iceland.

The places you go are just that: places. Pins in a map, checks off your bucket list. Sure, there are plenty of beautiful places to see in this world, but traveling to these destinations is not half as magical if you don't have the right company.

During a semester abroad you don't realize how fast time is moving until it's too late. We were determined to take full advantage of our five months in Thailand, hoping to see and experience as much of Southeast Asia as possible. As always, there was too much to do and too little time. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to spend time in Krabi (Thailand), Siem Reap (Cambodia), Bagan (Myanmar), and several cities in Vietnam.