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It's the beginning of September in Cleveland, Ohio and I'm hustling from my barista job to a college course I don't care about; wishing only I could enjoy the crisp day, instead of be locked in a dark room. Sweating from my bike ride, I sit down at my tiny desk. It was at this moment, I'd finally allowed myself to accept that I was not suppose to be in college at this point in my life. I stood up, slung my backpack over my shoulder and walked out of Adolescent Psychology 101. Dropping out of college was only the end of a new beginning. All I really wanted to do in college was study abroad, but I couldn't fathom paying fifteen grand for 6 months, when that much money could supply my lifestyle in Central America for nearly 4 years. Come January, I took off to Thailand with two of my best friends. Here, we got certified to perform Thai Massage, danced naked on a remote island beach under a full moon, and met endless individuals pursuing and living their dreams. Having not fully committed to the traveler lifestyle, I had booked a roundtrip ticket. I was to return to Cleveland February 1 and take off again to Costa Rica February 12 to be a build volunteer at Envision (a yoga/music festival in the jungle). In the 12 days between countries, I did a lot of yoga, reading, and meditating, attempting to align myself for what Costa Rica had in store for me. On February 12, I landed in San José, Costa Rica with a full heart and an open mind. As I exit the airport, I begin to look for the shuttle bus I had pre-paid for online. After looking for and not seeing any driver holding my name, I started to worry a bit. This American man stops me in my tracks, noticing the anguish on my face, and asks me who I am looking for. I tell him and he says he luckily knows the owner of the company. He gives the guy a call and comes back to tell me that some girl got on the bus as me and that the shuttle had left over an hour ago, embarking already on a 4.5 hour trip to the coast. He said "If you trust me, I happen to live 15 minutes away from the hostel you are staying and happen to be picking up a friend I haven't seen in over 30 years, I could drop you off, no problem". I'm a 20-year-old, blonde, American yoga chick. I realize I'm the epitome of a sex slave target and all things bad in the world of evil. But because the name of the friend he was collecting was Sandy and that happened to be the name of my step dad's past wife, and the fact that February 12th also happened to be the day Sandy died exactly a year ago, I trusted him; in the truck I went and off we were to the coast. I didn't want to intrude on their 30-year reunion, so I intended to stay mostly silent in the back seat. However, it seemed as if the man had more of an interest in me than in his "long time, no see" friend. I explained to him I was a yoga teacher, I just dropped out of college and traveled to Thailand to become a certified Thai Massage Therapist, and that my intentions of coming to Costa Rica were to learn how to surf and speak Spanish. He seemed to really have an affinity toward me. So as we were nearing the coast, he said he really liked my style and asked if I would like to spend the night in his mansion with them, his wife and kids. Seemed like an obvious choice, so I said yes. Super long story short, this man ended up being an Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, taught me how to surf and let me live in his house for two months as he taught me how to be a remote brain tuner for the international neurofeedback company I still work for a year later:)