After a very turbulent week, today more than ever, I see the need to travel. I see the need to contemplate who we are as a nation, but more importantly, who I am and what I will and won't stand for. It's a time for reflection, and for half the country it is a time for celebration. Elephants or donkeys, blue or red, we are each individuals and we each make our own decisions on how to behave day in and day out towards each other.

Traveling to me signifies the opportunity to learn a new culture, to learn a new language, to taste a new food and to embrace a new challenge. I am taking these next four years as a traveling opportunity. To test my boundaries of listening to someone else's opinions and reasoning, to learn something new about who this country is and what it will and won't stand for, and to take each individual as they are, one single being, existing amongst others.

I choose to keep in mind the little girl I met in Thailand who was selling flowers on the street to help her family.

I choose to keep in mind my Muslim host family that took me in in Burkina Faso, and who gave me shelter and opened their hearts and home to have this strange new person live with them.

I choose to keep in mind my LGBTQ+ friends, family, neighbors and community members.

I choose to make the decision to be kind to each person I interact with each day, whether it be in my hometown, or across the globe.