I am on a flight back to the United States as I write this final blog post. I’m glad I was able to take part in this program, and sad to see it end.
I’ve stated this before, but initially I was a bit scared of how this trip would go for me. It would be a long time away from family, and I was worried it might be difficult to get the emotional support and comfort that I normally count on from them when I am down or lonely. All of you were so kind and friendly toward me, giving me what I needed to get through this trip, and for that, I am really grateful. I wouldn’t have had as much fun as I did without you guys! There were so many things I liked about this trip! It is difficult for me to choose any one thing over others, but regardless, I’ll try to share a few of my favorites here.
First off, there was all the animals in Guatemala and Belize! I know you guys probably noticed me taking a lot of pictures of stray dogs as we visited places, but that isn’t what I’m talking about. Instead, I want to focus on the bevy of species that inhabit both Guatemala and Belize. There are too many to list, and I loved observing them in their natural habitats, as opposed to more artificial ones erected in places like zoos. If one were to take an animal like the nurse shark, or the keel-billed toucan from their natural environment, it might be that the new environment that they are placed in would not cater to the individual needs (i.e. diet specifications, shelter) of their species quite as well.
In regard to the environment, I’m glad that Guatemala and Belize are not as urban or industrialized as you see in bigger countries like America or China. If Guatemala or Belize were to go down the path of more industrialized countries, it could spell calamity for the biodiversity of the region. Not only would there be fewer spots for the animals and plants to inhabit, it would also cause their food sources (as in other animals or plants) to be killed off as well, leading to even more destruction of valued species. In this era of rapidly growing population, rapid modernization, evolving technology, it’s reassuring to know that not everyone has forgot about the beauty and importance of the all of these species that we share our world with, and that these people strive to maintain it.
I also really appreciated the pace at which life went at in Guatemala and Belize. It’s very different from what I’m used to in America! While I am reviewing a mental list of things I need to do and places I need to go on a near-constant basis at home in America, I found myself doing considerably less of that while in Guatemala and Belize. Even though I still made myself set aside time to do more mundane things such as assignments or taking my clothes to the laundromat, my scheduling and deadlines felt a lot more flexible. If there was something that I failed to accomplish on a given day, it seemed like I felt less guilty than would normally be the case, and I was able to more quickly make peace with the fact that I could just get back to whatever needed to be done tomorrow. From this, it became more apparent that while getting things accomplished and meeting deadlines are important, it isn’t the end of the world if I end up falling short sometimes. While I may still feel some anxiety about not being where I want to be in some aspect of my life, that feeling is only temporary, and life has a funny way of working itself out in the end. If I just slow down once in a while, it not only helps me see the big picture of what is going on in my life at a given point, but also gives me time to make new observations and pick up insights that I might not notice otherwise. While it is hard to say whether these new observations and insights will help me achieve goals I am working toward at the time, who knows? Maybe instead they will lead me down a completely different path where I might achieve even more than I had originally hoped for while doing that rushing thing.
Before going on this program, I had heard that studying abroad could be a life-changing experience. Now that I have experienced this trip, I would say I agree 100%. By studying abroad, you are able to not only experience a whole slew of places you hadn’t previously, but also form new viewpoints that occur to you only by being outside your normal sphere. While I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable with this program at first, I know now that I shouldn’t have worried. This was an amazing eye-opening experience for me, and I feel like it’s going to impact me as a person for a long time to come.
