By Tori Graffius
So far we’ve been here for a week and I can already tell that this adventure is going to be the best adventure of our lives! We have an amazing group of 12 students and two instructors and I’m excited to see where these next three months takes us! Every day has been very eventful, with group bonding activities, Spanish classes, tons of walking, and delicious food (well, for some of us!) We are currently staying in homestays with one other person, but prior to this we stayed in a hostel called Martina’s Place which was where we spent most of our time having breakfast, “group pow wows”, taking naps, and just getting closer as a group!
For the most part, the beginning of our trip was mostly spent in group meetings which were renamed “group pow wows” by Bradley! In our group pow wows we would play games, go over all the important information, and different activities we would be doing throughout this trip!
Our pow wows were very helpful in becoming more open to sharing feelings, stories, similarities, and differences that make us all unique individuals.
On day two of being here in Matagalpa we all went to a park where we made the “Quetzel Constitution,” which are our group agreements, or rules, for our group! After that we went to a soccer field where we played frisbee, shuttlecock, took photos, and interacted with some of the children in the area. Just spending time with these kids made such a huge impact on our journey already; especially seeing them smile instantly put a smile on our faces!
Hopefully, these next few weeks will bring as much happiness as week one—with more adventures and closer friendships!