My Story: While in college I fell in love with my degree program: Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration. The content was rich and challenging; my eyes were opened to a whole world in the ‘Leisure Services’ field. I especially enjoyed seeing my fellow students eyes light up when they learned this was actually a major.Upon graduating I realized that many of the entry level jobs in the industry were part time, seasonal and didn’t require a degree. The full time jobs required 5+ years of experience. I knew I wanted to help people travel but my biggest priority at the time was staying in San Luis Obispo so I transitioned into tech. I worked at MINDBODY, inc. for just under two years and am beyond grateful for that experience. I learned about creatively positioning the value of our tools. I had to sort out how to overcome rejection on a daily basis. I spoke with small health and wellness business owners about how to improve their operations and together we came up with some ah-ha moments. A time came when I knew I needed to leave and shake things up. In November of 2016 my wife and I quit our jobs. We both wanted to see our home country so we bought a van, did some custom interior work to make it livable, and spent three and a half months on the road. We drove 11,000 miles and saw 21 states. Through this experience we learned the importance of pursuing things that are important to us. For me this meant getting back to work that was deeply meaningful.I landed here with Living and Learning International managing the relationships we have with our 20+ partner universities. I couldn’t be more thrilled to enable college students to experience a semester abroad in Ecuador. Our study abroad program in Quito, Ecuador exists to provide an academically excellent semester where students will engage the challenges of a developing nation and learn to respond with an appropriate Christian Worldview.