Where are all the cowboys?

The lulliby of trucks zooming past us the other way and the rocking nature of 36 feet of vehicle on four wheels driving down the highway at 77mph had ceased.  I pulled back the curtain from the 2x3.5x6 foot space I had all to myself and hopped out to follow the three other women off the RV.  There was one other vehicle parked on an entire block of street lined by what literally were old saloon buildings, horse hitches still stood like little ghost sodiers in rows in front of them.  

"Where are all the cowboys?"  The place was empty.  We ventured towards the shops.  I glanced into a glass window and found myself staring at an odd display of dead jackals and rabbits dressed in business clothes, sitting in tiny chairs, and surrounded by historical shelves laiden with old perscription bottles and papers.  Strange.  Very strange.  The rabbit was even wearing spectacles.  We entered one of the welcomingly open doors a few windows down and were immersed in a world of the west.  Old wooden carvings of Natives and cowboys were everywhere.  "There they are."  Trinkets, toys, artwork, cowboy boots, vests, dream catchers, pottery, shotglasses, jewelry, and a plethora of other westernized paraphenalia covered the walls and shelves lined in numerous shops coming off the main hall.  I was in paradise.  No joke, if you've ever walked into an old person's house and it's just covered in old west items and smells like incense and cigars, that'll be what mine looks like in forty years.  If I ever settle.  Ever. 

I got back from Vietnam, was home for about a week, then headed to Fort Collins to hop onto a 36 foot RV with the outside covered in study abroad images.  A massive blowup of a girl on the back gives everyone the 'thumb's up' as we pass them.  I'm on it with three other good looking young women.  Let's just say we attract a lot of attention.  From FoCo we headed to Nebraska and are now in South Dakota, spending our days meeting with university offices and tabling for their students about study abroad options and by night staying in RV parks answering emails and drinking boxed wine.  

It has truly been a fantastic experience.  I have to admit that at first I was secretly a little nervous.  I had no idea what to expect from any detail of the entire trip.  From setting up meetings, to going to the meetings, to organizing materials, to living with three women I had never met before and trying to win them over, I just had no idea and I was nervous.  I swallowed that, internalized it where I couldn't focus on it and just rolled with the punches.  We ended up staying with the parents of one of the women I'm traveling with in Sioux Falls, and when asked by her father how long we had all known eachother, the other girls all answered over a year.  I met them all Monday.  He commended my bravery for stepping into such a new situation and all I could come up with was "I guess that's probably why they hired me."  And it's all been great.  

The first day I was getting used to the dynamics, which was interesting but got through.  Since then, the time has just flown by.  There are moments when I'm faced with challenges that I've never handled before that I think to myself, "I don't want to do this forever."  It's scary, can you blame me?  Then the challenge comes and goes and I go through it all seamlessly and I know I really do love this job.  No day is the same.  One day I'm doing research, the next I'm in Vietnam, then I'm putting together charts and paperwork, then I'm on RV headed to the Black Hills in South Dakota.  Sweet.  

Even better, I meet absolutely wonderful people.  The other women I am traveling with are phenomenal individuals.  I've learned so much from them already and am able to relate with them on many levels that I can't with other people.  They have a similar lifestyle to mine at the moment, and thus understand and cope with the same challenges while appreciating the same gifts that come with what we do.  They are an inspiration for the future.  Then there are the daily interactions where we stop.  All of the study abroad and career center individauls I meet with I learn so much from about traveling, the industry I'm in, and dealing with students.  I meet students, like a senior at Weseleyan University named Tom, who has traveled more than I and has a passion for working with child refugees that he is actively pursuing.  How cool is that!?  I met a sixty something police officer who was extremely talkative about most subjects people avoid with strangers, and a professor at Lincoln Uni who let me dink around in the flight simulator cockpit in their aerospace department.  On a daily basis I instantaneously connect and disconnect with so many people, departing from them slightly changed and hoping I changed them for the better.

To sum up, just do it.  Embrace any challenge the world or a boss throws at you.  You might surprise yourself with how well you handle it and prove to them your worth.  In addition, you may find even better inspiration along the way.