In many ways, today was very easy. We didn’t have to wake up at 5 a.m. (we woke up at 7:30), we didn’t have to take bucket showers, we didn’t have to live without electricity, we didn’t have to stress about finishing our Community Action Project, we didn’t have to worry about ruining our clothing while hiking through the trees and the rain, and we didn’t have to spend six hours doing backbreaking labor on a farm. But for me, today was by far the hardest. The overwhelming theme of today was “goodbye.” Goodbye to the wonderful people at our hostel, Casa Luna Flor (we love you Cruz!). Goodbye to the ladies at Abya Yala (thanks for all of the amazing meals!). And goodbye to Matagalpa, the city that has been our home for the past 18 days. All of these goodbyes bring us closer to our final goodbye tomorrow at the airport. Although today has been tough, it has also been full of sunshine and promise of the future. Through all of these goodbyes we have been able to reflect and discover how much we have grown and how close we have become. From the beginning we have referred to our delegation as “family,” but today we have become closer as a group than I ever thought we would.
After waking up this morning and having our last breakfast at Abya Yala, we went back to our hostel for our last seminar. Today’s theme was reflection. It was truly amazing to see how much we accomplished and how much we did in our short time here in Nicaragua. (Shoutout to Skarleth and Maria for being the best–yes BEST–GG coordinators ever!) The people we met, and the experiences we’ve had have been truly inspiring, and will shape the leaders that we become in the future. Not only have we grown as individuals, but we have also grown as a team. Our group (#GGM2A4lyfe!) has become a safe place where we can all try new things and step out of our comfort zones. Nothing can express this feeling better than Andrea’s poem, which made more than one of us tear up this morning in our group seminar.
In the afternoon today, we packed our things and said our last goodbyes to Matagalpa. Some of the intermediate english tutoring students even came to say goodbye (big love to Aaron and Nahum!). We had a two and a half hour bus ride back to our hostel in Managua, where we left our stuff before going to dinner. Tonight’s dinner was a nice change of pace because we got to choose our food from the food court at a mall in Managua. The group energy has been amazing this evening, and we have all had such an amazing day despite the impending goodbyes.
To all of my fellow Glimpsers and our wonderful Matagalpa 2 A delegation: Thanks for such an amazing trip! I’m glad that each and every one of you came with us on this trip; it will be an experience that will last a lifetime… keep in touch! Big love to everyone for our bus rides (thanks Carlos!) you all have such bright futures… SHINE BRIGHT!!! <3 Anna Park
Today taught us to live in the moment with our peers and leaders as the next day we will say bye to one another and not see each other at least for a little while until the next time. –Giacomo Sumner
