Hola from Constanza!

Today, we woke up at 8.00 a.m. like most days. But instead, today we were filled with nostalgia as we looked back upon our 16 days here in the Dominican Republic. After a delicious breakfast we got together as a family and reflected our time in Constanza. We participated in activities where we shared what we will start, continue, and stop doing as a result of our trip, and reflected on our journey with Global Glimpse. We made a pact to take with us all we learned here in Constanza back home to make ourselves and the community around us better. We also did an activity called, Big Love, where we all wrote our name in the middle of a paper and rotated around the circle every 30 seconds. On each paper, we wrote anonymous nice thoughts about that specific person. Though we shed tears as we learned the positive impacts that we made on our peers, we got closer together on our final day. After our final reflection we all had free time, in which students went out in groups of 4 and went to the ice cream shop and bought souvenirs. We went back to Hotel Mi Casa and had some delicious burgers with a side of fries. As we all finished, we gathered up to walk to the school together and do our last English tutoring class. Though we left our students only partially fluent in English, their lesson will not be over as other delegations will come in and continue to teach the community. We finished around 8 and had our last nightly meeting where we all shared our amazing experiences. We were surprised by Alyssa with a “Giardia Strong” cake, which everyone enjoyed. Everyone learned that we are very flexible, we faced home sickness, giardia, and each other. Through it all we faced it together as a family. What hit us most was spending one last day together. Soon, we will be going our separate ways, one back to New York City, and the others back to their homes in California. One thing that surprised all of us was the cake, at first, it was suggested as a joke to Alyssa, but she believed that it was well deserved for our patience and strength. We are proud of each other for getting through these 16 days supporting each other through thick and thin. Being leader of the day was great, but it was hard. In the end, we all got out of our comfort zones, as we faced the end of our time here as a familia.

Sam (I love you mom and Marquise)

Josue (I love you mom and dad)

C2A, our fabulous celebration cakes, Alyssa the city director, and our hotel providers Don Jose and Doña Estella

Advanced class picture from English Tutoring!

Beginner A lessons happening

Our final Líderes del Dia (Ester and a much healthier Kaylee) explaining tomorrow’s itinerary.

Our congratulatory cakes for rolling with all the punches this trip. #giardiastrong

Ulysses took this selfie on Don Jose’s phone!

Alyssa and Ester serving the cake