Hey everyone! My name is Julia, I’m 18 and I’m from Sacramento, California. I’m so excited to meet all of you! I just graduated from Christian Brothers High School and I am going to attend NYU in the Fall of 2019.

My parents love to travel, so from a young age my sister and I were fortunate enough to visit places all around the world and see other cultures up close. I absolutely loved being able to view the world, but it was always from an outsider perspective, I never truly experienced it. I decided to take a gap year because it’s always been a dream of mine to immerse myself in another culture and push myself out of my comfort zone. I love the idea of Nepal because I’ve always been fascinated by Buddhism, and I’ve also been told it’s one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places in the world. I am also very nervous for college and I think it couldn’t hurt to get some real world experience and gain a little perspective before figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life. After Nepal, I am going to Costa Rica from early January to late April interning at the Cloud Forest School, practicing Spanish and helping kids in the classroom and with environmental conservation. After that I might spend some time in Europe but that part isn’t really figured out yet so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

I love music, art, good food, books, and swimming. I’ve had a job as a swim coach for a recreational swim team near my house the past two summers and it has been so much fun, I love hanging out with kids they are awesome. I’m not sure exactly what I want to do in the future, but I’m planning on majoring in Psychology in college and seeing where that takes me. I recently started taking guitar lessons, I’m not very good but it’s been a lot of fun. As for the program, I’m really excited about the home stay, language and buddhism parts, I’m a little nervous for the trek but it seems like there are a lot of backpackers in this group and I’m looking forward to it!

See you all soon!!

Julia Dudensing