Reflecting on the Past Nine Months

The gap year trip that I can’t find the words to describe has finally come to a close. It was everything everyone wanted it to be and so much more. The volunteers left just over a week ago but I didn’t have the time to type this up until now. Plus, it also hadn’t really hit me that this trip was over and that the people that I had been with for nine months had gone home until I sat down to type this. I really didn’t notice until after they had left how big a bond you can make with people that you see almost every day during the course of nine months and it was a sad goodbye because we knew that some of us wouldn’t be seeing each other for a very long time.

What brought everyone even closer were all the great experiences that we shared. I know I, as the rest of the group, will never forget the Taj Mahal and it’s breathtaking beauty or the Himalayas, a place where we found peace. Peace with nature, with others, and peace with ourselves. I will never forget Semuc Champey and being completely awestruck by nature’s beauty in our world. Or Tikal where we could still feel the presence of the great Mayan civilization even though they’d been gone for a thousand years. I will never forget Corcovado and Tortuguero and their natural beauty that will always be a reminder that we can’t keep living the way we’re living. I don’t know how I, as I know others of the group too, could bear it if those precious trees that give us life were cut down and all those animals were chased from their home.

I will also always remember events like the hygiene campaign or the opening of the Elephant Village school or our small though important environmental campaign in Guatemala. I will never forget building the recycling center in Costa Rica and teaching kids English while at the same time teaching them how to live sustainably and take better care of our world. All these events have been even more moving than the amazing places we visited and I will forever remember the impact that we made on so many communities around the world.

What will be engraved in my memory even more than all those life-changing experiences were the even more life-impacting people we met. I know I just said that I wouldn’t forget the impact we made on the people but at times I think their impact on us was greater. I don’t think anyone in our group will ever stop thinking about Radhika and Arun, or Elmer and Mariano, or any of the kids that we have met on this trip that have taught us all so much. From Radhika I learned to always be strong and never give up hope. From Arun I learned to always be open to everything and never underestimate. From Elmer I have learned to simply be happy even when the situation is hard and maybe even dreadful. From Mariano I learned to always keep trying and view every little victory as a great victory.

From all these kids I have learned to help people with all these resources at our disposal that some people are battling daily to have. We shouldn’t be sad or guilty or think that life is unfair, but instead look on the positive side of things and fight just like all those people we’ve met around the world who keep fighting and never see the negative side of things. Before, I would never have imagined learning so much from kids under the age of 10 without them even knowing it, but now I wonder how I ever could have doubted. I will be forever grateful for this trip and all it has done for me and I know I couldn’t even come close to expressing to you how much I appreciate it. Even though the gap year is over, I still have more than a month left in Costa Rica and Guatemala, and I intend to make the most of it.