Over the past 5 years the most common question that people ask me about Romania is "Why did you go?". Oddly, the answer to that is the same reason I have always had for taking other major steps that many people don't: Because I can. I was living in Nashville, working at the Limited clothing store in a mall. It's that simple. I had moved to Nashville to be part of the Christian music industry, but like many of people who try that, I found a lot of people with good intentions who cannot live up to their promises.

In short, I had been promised a job at a record label, but instead, I was driving almost 2 hours each way to work at a mall. I was physicaly and mentally spent by the time Nick Swanson, a dj friend from OKC, asked me to go with him to start a radio show in Romania.

I remember our phone conversation. He had been telling me about his plans, asking advice about the logistics of being "business minded". I don't know who suggested it first, but I do remember trying to think of a reason why I wouldn't go. There wasn't one. My life was a wreck. I had nothing to lose.

After that conversation, I must've told myself every waking hour for the next few months how crazy it was. People like me do not go to a foreign country for any reason but vacations. I could'nt even locate Romania on a map the day I decided to go there.

You can imagine the responses I got from family and friends. My parents have always tried hard to support whatever I want to do, but they were scared for me; worried maybe. But the common reaction from friends was a mixture of worry and envy.(Mostly worry (: Kind of like: How crazy are you? You've really lost it this time.

I guess, in some ways, they were right. It takes someone who isn't too attached to the reality of their present life to be able to leave it all behind for the unknown. Detached - that was me. Romania - definitly the unknown.

I left Nashville at the end of May, I think. I moved to Springdale Arkansas to stay with my longtime friends/family, Jeff & Kathy Payne and their children Robert, Jamie and Callen. Callen, who was 5 or six at the time, gave up her bed for a month for me. I worked with Kathy, for a local arts and crafts guru. I twisted wire around a stick to make it curly. That wire was used to hang the various decorative things the artist created. Many a country homes are sporting my hanging wire creations!
That month was a wonderful visit with the Paynes, as Jeff had been my youth minister years before and I then got to know he and his family on an adult level. I saved what little money I made for my trip. Nick had generously bought my plane ticket.

After a short visit in Oklahoma City, my parents drove me to the airport. My mom was trying to be as helpful as possible, but my dad had not said much during my visit or the ride to the airport.

You know when you have done something so outrageous that you cannot help but laugh? I had a hard time not getting hysterical....Even as I boarded the plane I was thinking "I have probably lost my mind."

I had never taken an international flight before, so everything was new and a little unnerving. From letting go of my luggage (wondering how it would make it there) to having passport suspiciously examined, I was like a kid on her first day of school. On the last leg of the trip when our safety instructions were explained in German and English, it started to soak in that I was a long way from home.

When I got off the plane in Zurich, Nick was suppossed to be waiting for me. He wasn't... It dawned on me that I didn't know how to even ask where the bathroom was, let alone place a phone call to the Swanson house - wherever that was. I didn't even have much cash. I did the only thing I could do. I placed my suitcases in a clear spot, sat down on them and waited.

penny rene