Kia ora! Hello! My name is Brianna Bal, but please call me Bri. I am 22 years old and I grew up in a southwest suburb of Chicago named Burbank. Burbank is a border city of Chicago, which means it is just a short train ride from the heart of the city. While in high school I was involved in many activities such as dance, theater, concert band, marching band, speech team, outdoor club, ambassadors club and more. Growing up, I stayed in my little bubble. We did not have the money to go on nice vacations or travel like some other families did. I always fundraised to attend school trips to places such as St.Louis, Missouri and Washington D.C. These small trips awakened my love for travel! I began to question what the world was like outside of the greater Chicago area. And so, although I enjoyed growing up in a city full of diversity, my craving for adventure took me almost 2,000 miles away to the University of Montana (U.M.) to study wildlife biology!
My first year at U.M. was an eye-opener. I had never even seen a mountain before, and all of a sudden I was in a place with a trail up a mountain on my campus! I have spent a lot of time at U.M.
