As our Global Glimpse experience came to an end, we all took our last few moments in Riobamba to fully capture the essence of Ecuadors beauty that we discovered over the course the last few weeks. Today was filled with laugher, big love, and endless smiles that will last beyond the limits of Global Glimpse. Our day started off with breakfast provided by our hostel staff. After breakfast we enjoyed two fun filled rounds of the game ninja where we cheered each other on while competing to stay in the game. Our leaders were definitely persisting to stay in the game but eventually found their way into the cheering crowd. Finally after going head to head for what felt like hours we crowned our best ninja player which was Carl. Following the energizer we made our way into the Sala for our final seminar reflection. During this time we had an open space to reflect about our experiences on this journey from start to end and how we will continue to incorporate what we have gained from this trip in our lives as we depart. We closed off the seminar with big love and our final unity clap based off of the word family in kichwa. Then we headed to lunch at La Nativa where we enjoyed our final but yet delicious lunch meal made by our personal and favorite chief Ceaser. We thanked him and said our goodbyes while handing him a token of appreciation. Then we set off to the hostel to handle any last minute packing.
Being leader of the day was challenging especially on such an emotionally filled day. Leading the group without being too harsh or too nice was something I had to regulate myself through. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy but through the unity we have created among ourselves we learned goodbye is not forever. Riobamba has grown to be our home in the last few weeks and leaving it behind was hard. Saying goodbye to the relationships we have built was one of the hardest obstacles we had to learn to preserve through. Being leader on such a challenging day taught me be strong for my team and support them in ways that only I can do in my role. We have grown on each other and the relationships doesn’t end here. Riobamba was our home away from home and we are a family away from our own families. Global Glimpse is a memorable life experience and I don’t think any of us will ever forget it.