Today August 7th, 2017, was our last full day in Riobamba. We started it off by waking up at 8 am to go to breakfast at Cafe Del Tren. After breakfast we returned to the hostel where we had a quick energy booster in which we played two rounds of telephone. We then had a program seminar that focused on our closing trip reflection. The reflection was broken up into multiple parts, the first part consisted of us students sharing what we were most proud of during our CAP (community action project). We then were given papers where we wrote our names in the middle and passed it down in a circle to give and receive positive comments on each other. The point of the exercise was to show how much we all appreciate each other and how we’ve gotten to know each other these past two weeks. A lot of us (especially me, Carmen) were shocked at some of the things we read on our papers because we didn’t think our fellow glimpsers viewed us in such ways. After that we created journey maps in which we wrote down our top five most memorable moments of the trip, what we’ve learned about ourselves and how to be a leader, and who out of the people we’ve met here inspired us the most. I (Carmen) wrote about a woman named Gloria who I met during our living and working like a local day. She personally inspired me because of all the hard work she does everyday by herself prepping her field. Seeing her work taught me to never take things for granted and that’s what I thought about during our reflection. I (Jasmine P.) wrote about a women named Charito who came to our hostel to explain about her life. Charito explained how she worked hard in her hometown Puelas and her small business which was a tourist attraction. Her life was all destroyed by a natural disaster, the Tungurahua volcano eruption. After the eruption, she worked hard through those years to start her life all over again. Seeing her explain her story with the tears running down her face, showed me that I should be thankful about my life. After creating our posters, we did one last reflection where we walked around the room and wrote down on separate posters what we are going to start, stop, and continue to do to be a good global citizen when we return to New York. The reflection was really important for us to do because it was the last time we really got to talk about our experience as a whole group and it was great to see and hear what everyone thought about the trip.

After the reflection we went to Roma Santa for lunch. After lunch we took some time to pack our bags so that we will be prepared to leave tomorrow morning. We then had free time. After free time we had our second energy booster of the day where we played an improv game called park bench. The energy booster went really well and most kids participated, creating a fun and comical tone. From the energy booster, we went straight to English tutoring where we spent our last class with our students. After some time in the classrooms with the students, we all then went to the auditorium where we had a mini talent show showcasing the talents of our fellow glimpsers and students. After the talent show, we had a celebration in which we presented our students with certificates congratulating them on showing up and being dedicated to every single class.

    

Finally, we had our last dinner at Roma Santa. During this dinner we were able to spend time with the other delegation who just recently started their trip here in Riobamba. We got to talk, dance, and overall bond with them before we leave tomorrow. We also celebrated two birthdays from both delegations. We celebrated the birthdays of Emily, a Global Glimpse Leader from the other delegation, and Lutie, a glimpser from our delegation who is one of the funniest people on our trip. We’re glad we got to spend our last night in Riobamba on a high note with good vibes.

      

Being leaders of the day was different from our usual roles on the trip. We were tasked with making sure everyone was okay and working on communicating because there were two of us as leaders instead of one. A big challenge we had was being in charge of the talent show because there was so much improvising but in the end we got through it.