It´s Our Monthiversary!

Today is October 11th. It officially marks the start of our journey as a whole group. Since I´ve been with these people for a whole month now and have gotten to know them really well, I figured it was about time you did too.

The Program Leaders (PLs):

Isaac - A Bostonian schoolteacher with a passion for ultimate frisbee and changing the world.

Kelly - A patient, yet energetic teacher with a deep love for culture, travel, and thrift shopping.

The Students:

Chris - A fellow film kid who just wants to reach the people.

Eddie - Just a tough kid from Chicago.

Jack - The oldest of our group, he´s already done a year at Georgetown, and like all of us is here to learn about and maybe change the world.

Sam - A guitar-wielding, acapella-singing, wave-riding, slope-hitting Massachutsian ready to take on the world.

Nathan - A Wisconsonian kid who likes to cook, play poker, and swim.

Madison - My vegan roomate with spunk and a passion for righting the world´s wrongs.

Erika - A native New York/Jersey-er with wit, humor, and hope for the future.

Avery - A child of the world in every sense. She´s lived all over the globe and speaks six languages.

Ellie - Having participated in DC´s School for Ethics and Global Leadership, she´s a Georgian ready to change the world.

Gabi - An Australian with immense amounts of talent in music and biathalon.

Clare - A native Vermontian who´s starting school next semester but first is here to widen her perception of the world.

Charlotte - She´s Broadway-bound, but first wants to experience the world first-hand.

Cathi - A German, kinder-egg addicted, fast-learning, savvy-traveler.

Amelia - An NYCer with a plethora of great ideas and determination.

Kamea - A badass with a badass mom about to change the world... like a badass.

Maddy - My Norcal homie. Before she changes the world while at Georgetown she´s here for some real-world experience.

The Dogs:

These are two dogs that our group have sort of adopted.

Barb - The sweetest, kindest, most protective, loyal, and well-kept street dog ever.

Chaquito aka Jack Daniels - I didn't think a dog could look like whiskey, but this dog looks like whiskey.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Harry Potter and The Gap Year Girl

Let's start with books. I love books. Always have. Except that school, first of all, took up all my time so that I never had time to read for fun, and secondly, to be honest drained a little of my love for them. Thinking Beyond Borders is one of the more academic heavy Gap Year programs. I love learning and I love school so I 've  enjoyed our twice-weekly seminars that call for discussions and debates on what constitutes productive education, how policy affects sustainable agriculture and consumption, and of course the question t hat 's been driving our exploration for two months: what is development? However, all this heavy reading about the Mayan Genocide, extreme poverty, banana republics, and government coups at times can be, well, to say the least, difficult and saddening material. I 've found myself with more time on my hands than I ever had in high school. So, with all that time I 've decided to fill it up with what I love: reading. To be perfectly
Read more

Life On A Hilltop

"Hey Kelly, this is Chris. By the way, Grace is dying." Here are some things you should know: 1. I have been suseptible to massive nosebleeds since I was a child. 2. Ecuador is hot, dry, and at a high altitude. 3. Madison and I´s homestay is at the very top of a very long and very steep hill (but honestly it feels like a mountain during each hike). It´s about a 20 minute walk from the center of town/the school where I work. Before the nosebleed story, let me tell you about our homestay family and life on the hilltop. Madison and I live with mother Zoila, father Rafael (though he´s an engineer and works all day so we rarely see him), 16-year-old daughter Paula, 11-year-old daughter Luz Clarita, and 1-year-old grandson Nicholas. We honestly couldn´t have been placed with a better family. We call each other sisters, they teach us to dance, we help with homework, together we clean the kitchen, feed the guinea pigs, ducks, and giant pigs (believe me when I say giant. I´m
Read more

Hello from Ecuador!

It was another normal dinner in the Mindo forest, or rainforest to be exact, and it was pasta... again. Don't get me wrong, I love pasta plus there were some freshly brewed cups of Hierba Luisa a lemongrass-like tea. I was sitting across from one of the Thinking Beyond Borders Program Leaders, Kelly, mentally preparing myself for the River of Life presentation I would have to give in half an hour and twirling my spaghetti when a giant tarantula fell into it. I flew backwards out of my seat and onto the dirt below. This isn't a typical day in Ecuador though there are lots of bugs and, accordingly, lots of bug bites. My time here so far has been absolutely incredible. Though it's only been 12 days I've learned so much more about world injustices, economic thought processes, and the Spanish language. Not to mention I feel like I've known these 3 program leaders, 11 girls, and 5 boys for at least 2 months . We're currently in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, bef
Read more