Hola Familias! Elysiana and Mariana here – we were the leaders of the day!

Today was our final full day in Costa Rica and we started it off by waking up at 7:30. Everyone was packing and getting ready for the day. Once it struck 8:30, it was time for our last breakfast in the base house. We had a yummy traditional Costa Rican breakfast, which consisted of gallo pinto (black beans and white rice) paired with over-easy, sunny-side-up eggs, watermelon, pineapple, and mango, yogurt with granola, and finally bread. We had a great selection of drinks, which was coffee, star fruit juice, and cas juice.

We immediately headed to the balcony to start our final reflection, we were on a TIME CRUNCH. The final reflection consisted of 4 fun activities. First, we had to answer four questions in drawings or writing about our Global Glimpse journey: the first question was 5 of your most significant moments from your GG journey; the second question was what was the greatest lesson you’ve learned about yourself on this journey; the third question was what was the greatest lesson you learned about your leadership on this journey; and the final question was about one person you met that inspired you most on this journey. Once we finished with brainstorming, we were divided into groups of 4 to share our responses.

After that, we did our second activity which was called Stop, Start, and Continue. Some people reflected that they wanted to stop using their phones, start working with their communities, and continue being open-minded. Our third activity was something we call Big Love, which we usually do in our nightly meetings when we shout out to someone, but this time with a twist: we got a paper, wrote our name in the middle, and passed it around the circle, and you had one minute to write something positive about that person. We continued it once we wrote on everyone’s paper. It was a very heartwarming activity. Our final activity was called Shoulder Touch, where Fabi (one of the program coordinators) put us in a circle with our eyes closed while a few people were in the center with their eyes open. She would say a prompt – for example, tap someone’s shoulder who inspired you during this trip – and then the people in the center tapped shoulders to whoever fit the prompt.

After the final activity, some people took pictures and brought their luggage to the living room. Lunch started at 12:00 as usual, which consisted of rice, beans, mixed fajitas, and salad. For drinks, we had cas and star fruit juice. Immediately, we grabbed our luggage and ran up the hill to meet the bus at the gate to beat traffic. The drive was long, about 3 hours and 30 minutes, and a lot of people slept for most of it. Once we arrived at the hotel, we settled into our hotel and had downtime until 6:30. Some people explored the hotel, bought gifts, and watched TV with friends. Once 6:30 rolled around, everyone gathered in the dining area of the hotel and we ate JUICY chicken, white rice, salad, and steamed veggies. Our drink selection was guava juice and water.

Our final nightly meeting was immediately after dinner and we CRAMMED into Sam’s room, and the meeting was heartfelt. We talked about our quote and question of the day. People talked about how home isn’t always a house but sometimes it’s a person or a place. Then Sam had a surprise and let us go get Pizza Hut like we were BEGGING during free time. We had a great time with our EXTRA full bellies and PILED back into our own rooms to go to bed for an early morning at the airport tomorrow.

P.S. I’m coming home soon!!!!! -Elysiana