Although today’s theme was said to have been a complete ‘free day’, our delegation worked on being flexible with our schedule. Our day consisted of working on our Community Action Project’s official details while still getting to know each other a bit more. We began our morning with breakfast and then free time until noon, where we were allowed to leave the hotel in groups. My group -Jiaqi, Disha, Sanchala, Netsay, & Kelly- ventured off to the Internet Cafe and the call center. However, since it was a Sunday, the city had basically become a ghost town. We were pretty sad that we weren’t able to get in touch with our families since every thing was closed, but instead we decided to check out some local clothing stores and go shopping instead. After, we joined Alyssa, Ashley, Stephanie, and a few of our english class students for frozen yogurt, which was delicious.

After free time, we took the time to write appreciation letters to our many donors who made this trip possible for each and every one of us. I feel that this experience brought each of us closer together since we were allowed to reflect on our memories and experiences this trip has brought so far. It was crazy to realize how little time we have left together so we decided to make the most of our remaining days.

Later on, a few of us decided to go through all the donations of school supplies, hygiene kits, and books from previous delegations to sort them out and think about which communities needed them most as a way of giving back.

I’m most proud of my peers & I being more open with one another and bonding while playing Two Truths & One Lie. We learned some really interesting things about one another, living by the motto “What happens in the DR stays in the DR”. I’m really happy that we were able to share things about each other and laugh them off as one delegation. I’m also proud that we managed to stay on task with our schedule and meetings even though some of us had planned for a day full of free time. Being student leader of the day was stressful at times, but I feel that it was a great experience all together. I was able to break out of my shell a bit more because I had the chance to take charge and keep everyone involved and enthusiastic during all of our activities, rather than just wait for someone to tell me what to do and where to do it. I also learned that I shouldn’t be afraid of taking chances because one could never be sure of how good they could be at something or how fun something could be until they try it. Overall, I feel that I grew as a person and a leader while we all grew as a united and involved delegation in becoming much more excited for how we would conduct our CAP project.