The best part of coming back to Vermont is also what makes it so hard to leave again. No matter what kind of shit is going down in the US, Vermont is a pretty great place to be from an environmental, social, political, and friend perspective. It’s always so bittersweet to say goodbye, but the day I left Vermont, the sky was so beautiful, and the sun was hot and bright. It felt like a sign to remind me that it would be there waiting for me again next summer.

Even though leaving makes me cry, it’s so easy for me to say yes to adventure, so here we go again, but this time to the island of Santiago in Cabo Verde. There are a few factors that are different in this new adventure:

• Tim is coming with me for the entire 10 months
• Rather than a city of 6 million people, the city of Praia (where we’ll be living) has about 150,000 people
• The overall climate is less extreme than that of Côte d’Ivoire, which will be a welcome change
• You can swim! In the ocean! Yay!
• The official language is Portuguese, but the local (and more common) language is Kriol.
• We have a full kitchen (and a guest bedroom!)

Moving to a country that you have never visited feels like jumping off into the abyss, but I’ve learned that even an abyss can have its highlights if you look hard enough. Luckily, highlight number 1 happened within minutes of touch down. A representative from the Embassy was standing at the arrival gate waiting for me. Her name is Maria and she doesn’t know it yet, but she’s my new BFF.

What an extreme difference! I like it here already.