The first time I traveled alone was in my first year of college when I ventured to volunteer in Nicaragua. A few months before taking off on a flight to meet a bunch of strangers, I was sitting in my chemistry class at Felmey Hall when a recruit arrived to spread the word about an organization I’d never heard of, GIVE Volunteers. With little research, I was convinced that this was a step I needed to take and I signed up. Fast forward to awkwardly sitting in an old school bus packed with 30 other volunteers, traveling down a gravel road to a small fishing village on the west coast of the country. Although the first 12 hours were a bit awkward and intimidating, I grew to love that group of strangers and some of them are still my good friends now, four years later. We started in the small town of Jiquilillo building houses for battered and single mothers and made our way to Little Corn Island, teaching the children and working with a recycling program.
The poverty in some of these places was high, I saw things that I had only seen on the news before and never thought I would experience first hand. But I also gained a new respect for the world, for my family and friends, and for everything we have. Little did I know at the time that this trip would change who I was, how I saw the world, and what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
It was when my flight landed in Chicago that for the first time in my life I felt passionate about something. I had done things that I liked before, like cooking and taking art classes, things that I thought would be fun, but I have never yearned for something like this passion before. He had spent the last two weeks traveling and doing volunteer work in Nicaragua. And those two weeks were the most significant of my 18 years of life. At times it was scary, I questioned why I went, got sick and missed my home and my mom, but the more I did and the more I feared, the more I grew and the more I realized that the best things in life take place. on the other side of fear. I had to overcome my anxiety to get on that plane and it ended up taking me on an adventure that I can never forget. That adventure sculpted me as an individual. It led me to love my internship and the work I do in the community.
When I was first offered my internship at Marcfirst, my friends told me that I was stupid for not looking for an opportunity that offered a payment. I knew it would take a long time, and while doing the work for free was not my first choice, it was an organization that consisted of something that I fully supported. It was that passion to give oneself to the community of doing good and helping others, no matter in what form it was presented. I have now been in my internship for seven months and I love every second. I would go in more if I had time, money means nothing to me and I fully support the work that is being done. It has shown that money is not the highest prize in life, and that happiness in what you are doing with your life is.