We've arrived

The whole plane ride here I journaled and self-reflected as predicted. But overall, the reflection process is pretty smooth. I mean this is embarrassing to admit but I teared up when we landed here. It just came over me how blessed I am to be alive and to be given this opportunity to see life outside of my sphere of knowledge and comfort.

On the plane ride I decided that anything I see and experience here, I will attempt to treat it with non-judgement. Things, events, people are neither good nor bad. They just are. I'm working to treat myself in that way too. I am neither good nor bad. I just am. And I am not the center of the universe.

A full circle sort of thought occurred to me from Richmond. While I was there a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. really struck me. "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of selfishness. This is the judgement. Life's most persistent question is, what are you doing for other?"

What am I doing for others? I believe that this is the challenge this trip will force me to face. Because I live so often in a self-centred mindset. What do I want? Where do I want to go? What should I say? How do I feel? To think of others before one's own desires is uncomfortable. But if you ask me if I believe it's worth it, I truly do. My life is only one. Now is the time to change. Now is the time to act. Not drastically and dramatically, but gradually cutting away at my selfish tendencies.

Anyway. That is why I teared up on the plane. A little overwhelmed but truly blessed... With the chance to work to redeem my life.

Ah, yes. Very heavy. Passion fruit was so delicious today! Maybe that's what's gotten into me :P

Pre-Nica

So, it's Friday. We leave Monday. Just about finished unpacking my dorm stuff that I was very much procrastinating. Now it's time to pack for Nica.

People have been asking me if I'm excited to go to Nicaragua since... January. The closer it gets, the less I know the answer. To be totally honest, when I think of this trip I become more nervous than excited. In part I think it may have to do with my relationship with travel. Whenever I travel, it is often a time of renewal and self discovery for me, as well as ground works for building stronger relationships with the people I travel with. #nopressure.

LESS THAN 2 HOURS!

I am so excited to go to Nicaragua! I've been thinking about this trip literally since freshman year when I got involved with Bonner.  After returning in December from a semester in Chile, it seemed like a semester was forever away to have to wait to travel again.  I can't believe it is already here!  After spending a semester in Chile, I thought that traveling to Nicaragua wouldn't be a problem and that I could expect similar conditions.  However, one of my friends who travelled to Nica in the past with WILL and worked with ProNica quickly burst that bubble.  She said that her host family lived in "a hut with wood planks for doors and a bucket outside for a shower".  As crazy as this sounds, that excited me! My mom was less thrilled to hear that and I think I made her more nervous than she was before (is that possible?).  However, I'm excited to have new experiences, open my eyes a bit more, and push myself out of my comfort zone.  I'm so excited to immerse myself in another culture, learn and meet more people, especially my host family and the kids we'll be working with! I'm hoping to foster a good relationship with them in the two short weeks that we are there.  It will be odd having a second host family though; I will definitely be missing my Chilean family!  I can't wait to learn more about Nicaragua and to do meaningful work with ProNica.  Traveling is such an incredible opportunity to open one's eyes up to the world and learn so much more than the Internet or a travel book ever could teach you. We're traveling with an incredible bunch that will each contribute so much to the trip and the general group dynamic as well.  I have high expectations after the Atlanta trip, but I know this bunch won't disappoint :)

1 hour and 20 minutes!!!!

LEAVING TOMORROW!

I have been excited to go on this trip since I first heard about it my junior year of college, on a Junior visit day. Four years later I am about to be the person in those photos and having those experiences. Now that it is so close, I am scared! I haven't been out of the country since I returned from Prague. It was extremely difficult to return that time, that I can not imagine how challenging it will be this time. However, I am so excited to immerse myself in another culture. You can learn so much about a nation in a classroom, but your eyes are truly opened up to the people and their way of life when you live with them. It is an experience that you are unable to capture without traveling. I go for adventure and I go to make human connections across the globe. It is one of my favorite things to do. This time for me the best way to do that is through speaking Spanish. I am incredibly nervous about having to speak spanish since when I go to speak in a foreign language they all get muddled into a sentence that only few would understand. Good thing we have that whole plane ride to practice! I know this trip will be a time of growth for all of us and I can not wait to see how it both transforms me, but also transforms our entire group. We are going with a great group of diverse personalities that can do such great work and I can't wait to see both the impact we can make, but feel the imprint that will forever be in our hearts for those we serve, and for each other.

Welcome to Our Blog

Keep up with the TCNJ Bonners traveling on their service-learning trip to Nicaragua! Students will be primarily posting reflections on their experiences in Nicaragua.

Check out  previous year's Nicaragua blogs also:
http://tcnjbonnernica2012.blogspot.com/
http://tcnjbonnernica2011.blogspot.com/