On preparations. On leaving . . .

I graduated from the University of Oklahoma in May 2013. I arrived in Norman as a classically trained ballerina in pursuit of a BFA from the FINEST ballet program in the country. Coming from Columbus, Ohio, Oklahoma was a very foreign place. I entered the ballet program in the fall of 2010 .  .  . my dream had come true! As I continued through the program, began to take classes in other disciplines, and became involved in student organizations, my dreams began to shift. I no longer saw myself as an artist limited to the physical stage. My stage had expanded. I became an artist passionate about the betterment of humanity, passionate about travel and adventure; Passionate about providing sustainable solutions in a world inherently plagued by disease, poverty, climate crisis, a lack of educational resources, and wicked deeds. I wanted to be a part of the solution, and I was determined to change it with art (in whatever form that art may mold).

My studies took me to Italy with the Honors College and continued to guide me to Switzerland where I worked as a Counselor, English Teacher, and Dance Teacher at the American School in Switzerland. Combining my interests in Public Health, Travel, and Education, I traveled to India, China, and South Africa with the School of International Training's International Honors Program for a study abroad experience. My travels soon brought me to Dindefelo, Senegal to volunteer with the Jane Goodall National Institute. I taught dance classes at a local school and was a student of local dance traditions, alongside my sister, Grace Bachmann, who used art to teach children about environmental issues in their immediate and global communities.

This past year since graduating, I have completed the Physical Therapy admission requirements, worked with the American Red Cross in Disaster Relief, and am teaching dance at my home studio here in Columbus, Ohio. I have since become an avid runner and cyclist (I ran the Columbus Marathon in 2013 and am training for TOSRV - a 200 mile bike race). This year has also been spent closely with family and dear friends as I prepare to leave for Sierra Leone in June for 2 years with the United States Peace Corps. I will be working in Secondary Education and potentially in the health sector. After completion of service, I plan to attend graduate school to earn a doctorate in Physical Therapy traveling to disaster sites around the world providing sustainable healthcare integrating dance into treatment methods.

My Peace Corps journey began long before I applied after graduating from college. The journey to and with the Peace corps has been a series of events, a collection of moments, which have guided me towards service to my country and to people of need. Another dream in the making. Now with just 6 short days before departure, I prepare to leave my family and friends for a world unknown to me with people whom I have yet to meet, eating food I've never tasted, speaking a language I have yet to learn, and teaching subjects I’m not quite sure I comprehend in a school quite different from the ones I grew up in. Yet while so much of this experience is and will be foreign, I know it will become home, my family. It will become my stage. With or without the sequined costumes or the bright lights, the stage has been set. It is a place where all people can become active participants in storytelling, in the birth of imagination and creativity, and in a place where the simplicity of childhood dreams exist.

In the inaugural post written by my sister, she wrote of her fears about blogging; “I feared that maybe I'd be speaking to a nonexistent audience--that I would be writing with the false pretense that my three months in Senegal were actually relevant to other people.” I must say, I have had the same fears, perhaps a greater fear that I may not accurately portray my experiences in Sierra Leone or more importantly, the experiences of the people with whom I interact. Hattie, Grace, and I concluded that we are lucky though. To quote Grace, “We are lucky.  Simply put, we are lucky to have the opportunity to live and work abroad,” and we have to share our experiences. Hattie said it best, “We three are sisters, though only two by blood, from the same town in Ohio who happen to have a thing for West Africa.” I hope we can invite you into that world.