Final Reflection Day (No. 3)

Hello from Houston, Texas! This is Emily and Sammy reporting to you.

We’re currently typing this blog post at the Houston airport, but we’ll summarize what we did yesterday during our final reflection day. We started the day with breakfast at Roma Santa while Elizabeth and Mayra snuck out to buy flowers for our Program Coordinators (PC’s), Jossy and Anabell. We went back to our hotel to begin our final seminar. We wrote a journey map where we reflected on our favorite memories and those who inspired us. Then to show our appreciation of our peers and GGLs, we did a touch someone activity where positive statements were read aloud and we had to tap the shoulder of who we think fits that sentence. Then both of us read a poem we made to illustrate our journey throughout the whole trip (p.s. there’s references that only our group would understand). We then headed to eat our last meal at Roma Santa where Isabel was in tears (she was our mom and Queen for two weeks).

To finish up the seminar, we surprised our PC’s with flowers and lots of hugs. On the way to the airport, we had a free concert on our lit up bus and made a bathroom stop where we had a blast on the playground. We bought some snacks and continued our journey to the airport. The excitement of returning home quickly changed to streams of tears as we had to say goodbye to our PC’s. The cries were contagious, which was started by Sammy, to the point where we had to separate ourselves from each other so we wouldn’t keep crying. Overall, it was an emotional rollercoaster yesterday filled with laughter, tears, and goodbyes. We’ve learned so much from this trip and have bonded in such a short amount of time.

RB3A will forever be in our hearts,

Emily and Sammy

LDD RB3A Poem Reflection (by Emily and Sammy)                                                                                        

The place we met was SFO racing minds of the unknown awaiting for Lola, playing games while we sit on the airport floor until we go through the plane doors

Landing at Quito was our first glimpse of our independence

and the start of our journey for the next two weeks Homesickness kicked in after our first call home but quickly escaped, as our adventures awaited Days after meeting and eating llama, we tried guinea pig during Inti Raymi even living like a local, meeting the mamitas Maybe even finding love but we had to say sayonara Let’s not forget eating at Roma Santa with Isabel, being greeted by Nelson’s high fives pushing the tables together, feeling the connection while we share our stories what a coincidence our paths has crossed Lola’s friendships bracelets keeping us together even saving us from boredom Late-night talks, so loud that the hotel staff had to remind us to keep it down Altitude so high, Charlie had nosebleeds while Will was on his side There’s so much to say but not enough words to express this trip All we know is that RB3A will forever be in our hearts to stay