Meet Eric Jensen!

Hello! My name is Eric Jensen and I am 31 years old, originally from a suburb of Chicago. I have definitely taken an unconventional path to the University of Nebraska. I attended Northern Illinois University right out of high school for two and a half years. While there, there was a shooting on campus. We lost five of our fellow Huskies. To say that that experience had an impact on me would be an understatement. I left school after that semester and spent eight years out in the “real world” working for Lowe’s Home Improvement and United Airlines. I have always loved to travel!

In the spring of 2015, I decided to reenroll in college and attended a local community college to get my Associate’s Degree. After two semesters there, I transferred back to NIU. I’m not sure how many of you know, but the state of Illinois is in bad shape. They made massive cuts to education and I had six classes over two semesters get cancelled because of budget cuts. Seeing the writing on the wall, I decided to transfer to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My major is in Child, Youth, and Family Studies with a minor in Education. I will graduate two weeks after we return from Brazil!

I am extremely close with my family and I would ultimately like to move back or at least closer to Chicago. I have one older sister. My niece was born in June of 2018 and she quickly became so much of my life. In my spare time, I love to watch movies and get really into Oscar season. I like to play golf and as stated before, travel. I have been to 49 of the 50 states and am planning a trip to number fifty, Hawaii, as a graduation present to myself. My goal then is to explore the world and go to as many countries as I can.

I am looking forward to traveling to Brazil. I think the biggest thing I am looking forward to is staying with a host family. I feel like it will be easier to get the experience of real Brazilian life. It’s easy when traveling to hit the local tourist spots and see glimpses of the place you’re visiting. I look forward to immersing myself completely into the culture. I cannot wait to take off and look forward to this life-changing experience!