half circle

Student Trip Blog

Working Like A Local, Having Fun Like Kids

We had breakfast this morning and started the day with a mental warmup about “Working like a Local”. We then took the safari truck to the “Vivero de Cafe” (coffee plantation) and worked in teams to pull weeds and help clean up the plantation area. By the way!… someone lost their sunglasses at the plantation and sprinted back only to be reunited with them in the truck. SO DRAMATIC LOL. Then, we were transported to “Cafe Monte Alto” (coffee company) and had delicious coffee! There we learned how the production of coffee works here in the Dominican Republic! Big Love to Miguel for the plantation experience and Adriana for the wonderful tour.

After that, we returned to our homes, had lunch, and embarked on an exciting hike to the “Cascada” (waterfall). This was THE perfect refresher from the heat back home. P.S. no items were lost this time ? We also had delicious juice boxes (mango was the fan favorite) and cookies with crackers from the Dominican Republic. Shoutout to our GGL Ms. Ashley LeMay for her speaker and the Glimpers for the music requests! We made an awesome playlist for the trip.

When we returned home we freshened up and reflected in groups about a “significant object” of ours. This helped us find similarities between each other and brought us closer. Dinner was great as usual as we all chat, laugh, and had fun like every night. Our nightly reflection was just as fun and hilarious with all the jokes and funny shoutouts we gave to each other.

We all ended the day feeling fulfilled with all the lessons that stemmed from the quotes, experiences, and discussions we had as a result of the work we did all day. We look forward to becoming more aware as consumers and citizens of the earth.

Also, keep the comments coming! We read them out loud every night, SOOO the juicer and more embarrassing the better. We love the jokes that come from them.

Messages home from the LDDs:

To my sweet mother, wonderful father, and fun sister,

I love and miss everyone so much, and at the same time, I am learning so many new and interesting things here in the Dominican Republic. I bought a gift for each one of you at the Jarabacoa floral festival, and I am excited to come back and share all my stories and experiences with you all. I am having a great time here, but also miss you, so please wait for my call home tomorrow because I get to call you and tell you everything about my trip so far. Love you all so much and miss you.

Hugs and kisses: Manognya Vishnuvajhala

Hola Mami, Papi, Deisy, Evelyn, y Joonie! Hoy me diverti muchisimo, disfrute el trabajo, los viajes, y las lecciones que tuvimos. Los extraño muchisimo pero sigo con mucha energia y motivacion. Nos vemos pronto y los quiero mucho! Please cuiden mucho a Joonie y les mando abrazos a todos! ? – Lesly Silva Rosales

Comments (7)

Annice Weinstein

on June 10, 2023 at 8:29 pm

The hike to la cascada looks nice. Hopefully there weren’t too many mosquitoes. Dad’s mostly interested in the coffee you got to try.
Btw your BeReal is going well. I tried the advanced maneuver today and failed terribly. But your friends are so supportive of our posts. We’d say Lady misses you but she’s started sitting in your seat at the kitchen table so she might just want your food.
Love you!

marahya navas

on June 10, 2023 at 8:41 pm

what a day!!! farming and hitting a waterfall afterwards sounds like such a delicious day! hopefully the water wasn’t too cold! it’s so beautiful to read your experiences so far and see the bond everyone is building over there:) also please enlighten us in the next post and expose who this “someone” who lost their sunglasses was because i feel like thats something that Felix would do… *crying emoji* i can just imagine him running all around, whew
p-world, pls dont forget to include the pittsburg anthem in the next song rotation for the one time hehe
excited for whats to come tomorrow !!

Pamela Robinson

on June 10, 2023 at 9:14 pm

I can not wait to hear all about the coffee plantation. Then off to a hike, what an adventurous (tiresome) day! OMG, what a hilarious moment about the sunglasses… I bet $10 bucks it was my kid. I hope someone recorded it. I know you guys are tired get plenty of rest , and I can not wait to read about the next adventure! I love you and miss you Divinia, except this is the cleanest your room has ever been!
Love Mom. Marco said he miss you. Casey went to her orientation today. Juju is Juju!

Maria Rosales

on June 10, 2023 at 10:04 pm

Hi Glimpsers we are Lesly’s family and we hope that everyone is good and very happy while enjoying this wonderful experience. Lesly, all your family is very proud of you and we’re very happy to see that you are motivated and with lots of energy. We miss you! Keep putting your heart into all the work you are doing and enjoy this trip that will continue to teach you many life lessons. Take care!

Niki

on June 11, 2023 at 10:15 am

Hey Glimpsers,
What fun you all are having there! Coffee plantations, waterfalls , bonding activities and drama over sunglasses ?
If Maya had taken her sunglasses with her, I would have bet that kid was her … !
Maya, I miss you so much, even though when you are here, you spend most of your day hiding from me ?
Mira looks around for you when we ask, and we keep reminding her about you. Don’t worry, she will be all hugs when you come back.
Kylo, Dada, Papa and Mummy miss you a lot too.. especially last night when your cousins came over, we missed having you around.
Here’s wishing the group a lot more fun times together. Would love to hear that playlist you guys came up with!
P.s: how’s the bug situation Maya?

Lyvell Stevenson

on June 11, 2023 at 12:36 pm

Mia, if you are reading this I am using your nail polish (red, if you have it). I am only using it for two fingers. I hope you are having a really good time!

Pamela Robinson

on June 12, 2023 at 11:44 am

I wanted to come back on and say thank you Lesly Silva Rosales & Manognya Vishnuvajhala for the great post update! I truly appreciate it!

Inspired by what you’re reading? Learn more about us and get involved!