Greetings from Santo Domingo SC1B families and friends!
I’m happy to report that our delegation of 19 students has arrived safely in the beautiful Dominican Republic! This is your GG leader, Luz, bringing you our first blog from our cozy (read: cool) bed and breakfast where we get to spend what’s left of the night before we head out to our final destination of San Cristobal first thing tomorrow.
While the bright-eyed faces of the curious students I encountered this morning are now the faces of tired and restless students, I’m glad to say that our journey was a successful and (mostly) smooth one. 17 unacquainted students met up at the Delta counter at SFO this morning without knowing that they’d quickly become a community of eager leaders ready to explore a new place as they boarded a full plane to JFK. The hot and humid weather of New York gave us a taste of what we could expect once in the DR. 17 then became 18 students when we were fortunate enough to have Kareem join our connecting 4 hour flight. The atmosphere of our second flight was even better! You could see Segen and Isabella chatting and bonding in the seats right in front of me and across the aisle you spotted the comradery among other “aislemates.”
Our plane finally touched down on Dominican soil at exactly 12:00am. The anticipation of finally getting here was palpable as you heard Kyle practicing the new Spanish words like “relampago” (lightning) that he learned from Briana. Once we all made it through immigration and customs, we were reenergized by the excited and warm greeting our in-country staff, Jatnna and Kristin, had for us! We gathered up, met Nakita, our 19th student who flew separately from Boston, and joined our awesome driver, Giovanni, who brought us to our hostel for the night.
By now, the place is silent as I’m sure everyone is catching up on much needed sleep. We’ll be up at 7am again tomorrow, so it’s definitely time for some shut eye.
Reporting at 2:51am,
Luz
Glad you guys made it safe! Looking forward to reading these blogs, love & miss you Jihan!! Xoxo
Glad to here everything went well and we’ll looking forward to hearing from you Isabella LUV U!!
So glad you guys made it there safely! Excited to hear about everything you guys will be doing on this trip! Remember do not pet the animals! and don’t drink the water! lol anyways have a great time guys. These couple of weeks will go by so fast, enjoy each moment like its your last. <3
For Zelie –
From Debbie: This is crazy, I miss you so much already. Come back! But I am so proud you are achieving one of your dreams. Dream on sister and make me proud!
From Mom: So happy your trip was safe and uneventful. How is your Spanish comparing with the rest of the delegation? Work hard and have fun!
From Dad: Did you leave one bag of Sunflower Seeds on purpose?
From Michael: I wuv u
Thanks Luz for talking care of our baby girl!
To the rest of the delegation, we can’t wait to know more about each one of you through this blog and for Zelie’s return rich with 18 more friends!
To Rosamaria,
We miss you so much :’) but we hope you are having fun. Brother says he hopes “you are having fun, that you are safe, making friends and have a nice trip”. Brisa says “I love you Ruby”. Dad says he loves you and misses you too. We can’t wait to hear about the amazing experience you are having.
Thank you Luz for taking care of our baby Ruby.
P.S. I promise we are not having fun or doing anything exciting with out you!
To Zelie
I hope you’re having a great time babe!! Hopefully the mosquitos haven’t been attacking you. How’s the food? I miss you. Keep working hard and I’ll see you soon! KKs says hi, she misses you, and she wants to get VP when you get back!!
Have a great rest of the trip!
To Jihan
hey love! I hope you’re having a great experience in the dr and I can’t wait for you to tell me all about it once your back. Please stay safe and hurry home I love you!