Hey everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself as the newest member of the JS0 cast for the Ecuador Season.  I am so excited to get this adventure started in April and hope to be sharing my life on the road with all of you in the coming months.  Let me give you a little background on myself and what I have been doing up to now.  My current adventure started in Chicago back in late 2008 when a friend of mine suggested accompanying him to India for a few weeks.  Up to that point I had already traveled to Europe a handful of times, spent countless summers in Mexico and studied abroad in Italy but the thought of Asia had never crossed my mind.  At  26 I was like countless other people my age working a soul crushing job that made any hope for exciting travel a long distant memory.  Life hasn’t been the same since I accepted that invitation almost 2 years ago.  On the 1st of the year in 2009 we took a train to the Taj Mahal and it was there that I decided that this would be the year that I would finally make time to travel the world and start the adventure I had always dreamed of.  I came back to Chicago a new man, quit my job, sold my stuff on Craigslist and moved to Korea to teach English in April about 6 weeks later.  Somewhere in between all of that I managed to visit the beautiful temples at Chichen Itza in Mexico before I embarked on Asian adventure number 2 for the year.  Since then, this year has taken me to Beijing and the Great Wall, to the neon jungles of Tokyo and all over this crazy Korean peninsula that has been my home base all year. Now, I am taking a few days to come back to Chicago where it all started almost 2 years ago to have some of my Mom’s carne asada and guacamole,have some decent pizza and catch up with friends along the way.  Cannot wait to finally speak some Español after a year in Asia and start exploring South America.  Here’s to new adventures!

Ciao!