Hello World!

   My name is Jake Hansen. I'm a writer. Well actually I'm just a young college student looking to make a name for himself. The world's a big place, lots of opportunities. Since this is my first blog, I figured I should introduce myself just a little bit. I grew up in the suburb town of Draper, Utah. I'm the second oldest of four boys, so as you can guess I love adventure! Nothing's better than a good carpet wrestling match, or late nights in front of the TV screen with your siblings, but most of all I love being outdoors. Skiing, hiking, boating. Anything. Growing up with four boys in the house, my family of course is big into sports. I grew up in love with football. I dreamt of becoming John Elway some day. That dream lasted through most of grade school, into junior high, and up until my freshman year with the big boys. As fate would have it, I didn't grow. I was thinner than all the other guys, and in consequence I didn't have the momentous speed necessary to really excel in that sport. In all honesty I wasn't too bummed when I got in a serious ATV accident and was told I couldn't play football anymore... but that's a story for another day. I had a new focus in mind. A couple years earlier I had started playing this rapidly growing sport that was new to my city. Lacrosse. I loved lacrosse. I still do to this day, but man... in high school, I lived for lacrosse! It was my favorite hobby! By far the most intriguing, intense sport I had ever been given the opportunity to be involved in. I continued to play up until my first year of college, and boy were those the years.
   There are many other fascinating aspects of my life that really defined me as a person. One of them being my passion for traveling. My mother is a flight attendant for Delta Airlines, and so my whole childhood I was blessed with the opportunity to see the world. Paris, Venice, Cozumel, Jamaica. You name it I've been there. Those are some of my sweetest memories. Just the adventure of seeing new cultures, and new scenery. I know it sounds crazy, but looking back at it, my favorite part of all those trips is no longer the actual destination, or the fun things we did there, but the long hours spent in the planes with my brothers. Throwing punches around, playing Gameboy, and sprawling out all over each other. Now that I'm older and moved out of the house, I miss those tight-knitted moments with my family. My parents did an amazing job at providing a warm loving atmosphere in my home, and for that I will forever be grateful. Family is number one!
   Of course if there is any time that was really a defining moment in my life, and especially a time that sparked my interest as to becoming a writer, it was the two years I spent living in Ukraine. I was called to serve in my church as a traveling missionary, and was assigned to preach the Gospel in Ukraine. I learned more about myself, and about the desires of my heart, while living in the slums of rundown cities than ever before in a rich suburb of America. A lot of the time I spent out in rural villages, with bright green shrubbery, vibrant sunflowers, and dusty brown roads. Going from cottage to cottage speaking with people about the importance of worshiping Deity. However, the majority of the time I spent in large polluted cities, stopping people on the streets, and then teaching them in their homes. The difference in living standards alone made me really open my eyes, to recognize all the blessings I have in my life that others around the world don't get to enjoy. But despite all their hardships, I fell in love with their culture, and the people... Oh, the people. If I could but describe the love that I now have for the Slavic people. The inner connection I was able to make with them still astounds me today. Being a missionary was so much more than just trying to convert someone to my religion. It was more about the outward service, and the deep heart-to-heart conversations I had with people that literally had nothing. There's no way to put in words the things I learned, or the feelings I felt... but it was in the attempt to do so that I realized that I have a real passion for writing. There's just something about taking thoughts, and letting them flow out of your head, through your arm, and onto paper that just became so intriguing to me. It's the process of compiling emotions and facts, organizing them into a comprehensive piece of literature, and the interpretation of that from others that really helped me attain a love for this art. The art of putting words on paper. It was on my mission that I noticed that my thought process is in a way very "artsy", or maybe it's better to say "colorful". I love to make life exciting, and writing is just one way for me to express that excitement.
   So now here I am. Sitting on the couch of my apartment, putting these words not onto paper, but onto the computer screen of my laptop. I'm doing this as part of an assignment for my college writing class, but also for myself. To get this wheel turning. To really start my writing career.