Heather Nelson
Washington, DC
Georgetown University

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Show latest update from from Heather's blog Made It! We Made It! We rolled into San Francisco on Saturday across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was the most unbelieveable way to finish the trip and it was so exciting to see everyone cheering for us. My mom surprised me by meeting me out there with my aunt. I also got to see two friends from school and a friend from home so that was awesome! We dipped our front tires into the pacific ocean and then went swimming even though it was really cold it didnt matter. For our lunch celebration we had chipotle burritos which was perfect. After lots of pictures and celebration we headed to the host in oakland to clean up before dinner. We had dinner in the park and then went out to celebrate. It was all bittersweet, since a handful of people had to leave that night. The next day we went out for breakfast and then it was time to say goodbye. It was really hard to say goodbye because it meant the end of an incredible summer. I could not think of a more amazing way to spend a summer and I am so glad that I got the chance to have this experience. I already miss everyone and hope that we will have a reunion soon! Thanks all for reading my blog, this is my last post!

Heather's bio: Hi!  My name is Heather Nelson and I am an 18 year old freshman nursing major and international health minor at Georgetown University.  I am originally from a small town just north of Boston.  At school I play club tennis, and work for a program tutoring and mentoring fourth graders.  I am enjoying getting used to living in Washington D.C. and learning about everything that is here.  I found out about Bike and Build this past summer when one of my friends told me that her roommate was doing it.  I thought it sounded like an incredible experience so I decided to look into it a little bit more.  I could hardly believe that it was possible to bike across the entire United States in a summer while stopping to help build affordable housing along the way.  After learning more about it, I decided that I could not think of a more amazing experience.  I could not wait to apply, start raising money, and train for the trip.     I believe that affordable housing is a very important issue, especially today in this economy.  Now that I am living in a city I see a lot more homelessness, and a greater need for affordable housing.  Affordable housing is a large problem in the DC area adding to this homelessness.  I have worked with Habitat for Humanity and other organizations over the past four summers on various mission trips across the country.  I have loved the experiences I have had working to repair homes after Hurricane Katrina, as well as building decks and repairing windows and doors in Kentucky and Maine.  I have also served in many soup kitchens and participated in a program in which I heard firsthand accounts from homeless people about their lives and their situations.  I am very excited to ride across the country because there is so much to see.  I have only experienced the east coast and a little bit of the west coast and have never really been to the middle of the country, so I look forward to biking through that part.  There is such a variety of cultures in this country and riding through the various cities will afford me the opportunity to learn about and meet all different types of people.  I know that this will be a very big challenge but I believe that the things that I will see and the people whom I will meet will make this a remarkable life changing adventure.

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