Introduction and a big thanks!

Wow... It is hard to believe that all of this is truly happening, but I am finally in Ukraine! And I say finally because even though I only learned about 2 weeks ago that I was coming to Ukraine, I have been so busy with the preparations for the trip that I hardly had any chance to let it all sink in my head!

So before I begin, I want to thank everyone who has supported me in one way or another in this crazy journey that is about to begin. First of all, I want to thank Dr. Joanne Benham Rennick for even considering me and offering me this amazing opportunity! I am so glad you though of me, even though you knew my summer was all planned out and book solid! Secondly, I want to thank Myroslaw Tataryn and Elyse Redden for all the assistance you gave me in helpingme prepare and get all the requirements ready for this trip. I would not have been able to do this without you! Third, I want to thank mom and dad for being so good about all of this, especially since it all happened so fast and there are certain risks associated with it all!

Next I want to thank Curtis and all of my friends who have encouraged me to go ahead with this adventure. If it wasn't for you, I probably would not have had the courage to do it! I am going to miss all of you, especially those of you that I won't get to see right away when I come back. You know who you are and I send you all my love.

Now, enough mushiness cuz I am going to cry (hahaha), and lets get down to business!!

There is so much to tell and so much that has happened already in this short period of time that itis going to be hard to keep track of everthing, hahaha, but I will try to do my best to share as much as I can with you! What I have decided to do is to set up a different blog post for each random topic that comes to my head. Otherwise, if I try to tell you everything in chronological order I will just keep going on random tangents! Hahaha.

I hope you enjoy my blog, and please, PLEASE feel free to leave me comments and subscribe to the blog! I would LOVE to hear from you!

May God bless you all.

Miri