Hello Friends and Family of G1C!

Athalia, one of the two Global Glimpse Program Coordinators here! Today was our first full day in Granada and to celebrate the occasion, we took the city by storm and got to know a little bit about the history of Granada and Nicaragua with an inspiring and well-known speaker – Don Fernando.

Our day started with wake-up call at 7:30 AM, followed by breakfast at 8 AM at our hostel. We then transitioned into a seminar about Culture & Safety in Nicaragua – I performed a rap about crossing the street and students in groups acted out other top traveler tips. We also came up with group agreements for us to hold ourselves accountable to during our two weeks here (one agreement we have is to practice our Spanish, ole!).

Acting out safety tips

After our talk about safety, we headed out for a history tour, and Glimpsers were surprised to see that we were going to see the city from a horse and carriage! We headed out in a caravan of five carriages and saw a few important churches in Granada, the waterfront on Lake Nicaragua, and the Central Park. It was a really cool way to see the city, and really wonderful not to walk in the hot hot heat. At the end of our city tour, we went to a historical building that is now home to a Cultural Center learned from Don Fernando about Nicaraguan history, with a special emphasis on how the USA has affected it over the past century or so. His takeaway message for us was how important it is to learn about the past and from the past, especially as young people charting a new future moving forward.

With some of our awesome carriage drivers in front of Lake Nicaragua

We returned to the Hostel for lunch after our inspiring talk with Don Fernando and then in the afternoon we broke up into groups and visited some sights in the city during free time. We found the Quick Stop, looked at the stalls with crafts in the Central Park, and some of us got ice cream or coffee.

With Don Fernando in front of Casa de los Leones (House of Lions, 5th from left)

In the evening, after dinner, we had our first small group reflection about getting to know each other, and then the leadership torch was finally passed to our first student Leaders of the Day for tomorrow: Nia and Kelly L! Nia and Kelly shared their talent for dance and then got everyone excited for Culture Day. Tomorrow Nia and Kelly L. will be the first students to write the blog, so stay tuned!