… and miles to go before I sleep

Rachel Bittman

February 26, 2018

So, I've got to admit I'm a little nervous about this Grenada trip. It's not so much that I'm nervous about what I'll be doing there, it's more the fact that this is the first school trip abroad I've taken since high school (French exchange trip. Not sure if that counts). I mean, I've traveled before (pretty recently too, and for much longer than a week), but the idea of going with a group from school just makes it a little more nerve-wracking. More serious. More real? Why would that make it more real? I spent three and a half months in Africa last summer, was that not real?

I don't know. But even with the nerves, there's definitely a lot I'm looking forward to (and yes, I mean more than just the fact that I'm going to be spending a week in the Caribbean in February. Is it wrong that I'm really hoping Michigan gets hit with a huge snowstorm that week? Sorry, Michigan friends). For all I spent over three months in Africa last summer, I really didn't feel like I accomplished that much by the end of the internship. But this week sounds a lot more intense, and a lot more structured. There are clearly defined expectations for us that we need to complete by the time we leave, and a well-outlined end product for us to deliver. That's what I was really missing last summer – I had to figure a lot out on my own without support, and I guess the result of that was that I ended the summer with not a lot of hard evidence to show for what I did.

I guess you never really know until you get there; but this week sounds like it will be jam packed with work, with an end result of some actual recommendations to give to the Ministry of Education who will then use what we've suggested to better the health of Grenada's youth. These are the kinds of classes I like the best, the ones that work with real life organizations. It's not just a theoretical proposal, it could have real-world implications. So, here's to a week of excitement, work, and new experiences!