Name: Allie Weller
Class: 2012
Hometown: Washington
Major: International Studies
Minors: Portuguese, French
Senior Allie Weller’s love of travel has taken her across the world. She’s backpacked through South America, climbed the Brazilian giant Pedra da Gávea, splashed in Iguazu Falls in Argentina and explored the Machu Picchu ruins in Peru. When Weller graduates, she said she hopes to join the Peace Corps in Latin America.
But Weller’s adventures aren’t limited to foreign countries. After forgetting her passport for a trip to Mexico, Allie decided to change her plans and tour the southeastern U.S. She did the River Walk in San Antonio, drank hurricanes in New Orleans and ate peaches in Georgia. She recently biked from Chapel Hill to Rockingham, a distance of 92 miles, to visit her grandmother — “for the fun of it.”
Interestingly, the more Allie travels, the more she appreciates her home. While speaking with me, she recalled spending several nights in airports by herself while trying to get home for Christmas one year. As she tried to get comfortable on airport couches, she watched the families walking by and realized just how much her family meant to her.
DTH: What was the best new music you heard while traveling?
Allie Weller: Walking around the beaches on Copacabana; listening to bossa nova was really romantic.
DTH: What is the craziest thing you’ve eaten while traveling?
AW: Rice mixed with pigs blood wrapped in intestines.
DTH: After a big trip, what do you usually do first when you get back home?
AW: Lots of sleeping and catching up with friends.
DTH: What advice do you have for travelers or students getting ready to study abroad?
AW: Don’t make any plans ahead of time because it’s never what you think it will be.
DTH: Why do you love to travel?
AW: I love the feeling of independence. Being on your own, being comfortable with yourself, opening your mind, and being a sponge to what’s going on around you.
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