Wednesday, July 16, 2014: the final day of our Global Glimpse 2014 trip. We woke up at 6:30 a.m., for we had a long journey ahead of us. We groggily got out of bed and walked around like zombies as we slowly got ready for the day. By the time breakfast was ready, we were all more awake and ready to eat, especially those who had to drag all their luggage upstairs to the lobby. We formed a line as we waited to be served our last breakfast in Jinotega, and as we sat down, there was a melancholic air about the room. We knew that the end was coming closer and closer every minute, every second.

After we ate, we began to head outside into the warm city of Jinotega, and walked to Peña de la Cruz, or Cliff of the Cross, which was a cross at the very top of a mountain. It was a long adventure up a myriad of stairs and dirt trails. We made it to the top after about an hour and most of us were pretty worn out, but the view was definitely worth it!  It overlooked the city of Jinotega, with mountains stretched far and wide on every side. Hawks flew above, soaring majestically through the air. While we were up there, we took quite a few photos while we still had time and after about half an hour, we began our descent. When we got back to the hostel, we had a little bit of time to finish any packing that was left and to shower. Around 11:30 we started our final seminar. First, we talked about the Community Action Project (CAP) and the thing that happened during the project that we were most proud of. Then, we received a piece of paper and were told to draw five of our most memorable moments from the trip, the greatest lesson we learned about ourselves, the greatest lesson we learned about leadership, and lastly, one person we met that inspired us the most during the trip. After this, each one of us shared what our biggest takeaway was from the trip. Many of them had to do with what I believe to be the most impacting experiences of the trip: the CAP and the trip to the dump.

Once we finished the seminar, lunch was ready. It was our last meal in Jinotega, and when we were finished, we got our luggage onto the bus, thanked the owners of the hostel, said goodbye, and began the 3-hour drive to Managua. With the arrival to the capital of Nicaragua, we entered the same motel we had stayed at our very first night in Nicaragua. We went to dinner, had ice cream for dessert, then went back to the motel to have our last Nightly Meeting. However, this time, it was a bit different. After we passed the torch to our volunteer leader, Yasmin, I led a special Big Love, where we had a piece of paper with an oval in the center. In that oval, we wrote our names. Then, we passed to the person to our left, and had 30 seconds to write and “give them BIG LOVE for what they brought to this group.” 30 seconds is not much time, and everybody wished that there were more time, for there was so much to say about every individual in our group. After that, we had an open mic for Big Love. Anyone who wished to volunteer could give Big Love to the group in any way they saw fit. Mark showed off his rapping skills again, Charissa and Aydan sang, Gabby rhymed, John D. clapped and drew a heart in the air, Tommy performed hilarious slam poetry, Charissa did a parody of a Hamlet excerpt, and Mark closed it up with an amazing speech. The meeting ended with a final unity clap, the word being “family.” We then ate cake in celebration of Tommy’s birthday, which was soon used for slamming into people’s faces.  Huge food fight!  It was an amazing final night, and I could not have hoped for a better group of people to spend it with.