International Service-Learning & Gap Year (9 Days)

When I came to Belize to study abroad I came in with an open mind and an open heart and I wasn't disappointed. The atmosphere, the environment, and the people were all just incredible. While all of my experience cannot be documented in a single review without it sounding like a jumbled mess; I would like to touch on some highlights of my trip that really stuck with me. 1. We cooked traditional Garifuna food and Kriol food with Garifuna and Kriol women and bonded with them immensely. 2. Whenever we visited the Marketplace in San Ignacio, which is where we were stationed, we would always chat up the locals. 3. Experiencing the Museum in Belize city and get a good introduction and background to the history of Belize 4. Helping paint the classrooms at San Ignacio High and getting to work with and tutor the kids. While these are some of the highlights and not the entire trip I bring these up to talk about common themes between them. While each of these things seems distinct and separate they actually are related by some common ideas; those ideas being community and identity. These are some of the instances that stand out in my mind because of the profound sense of community I felt with these people that I had only just recently met; along with this, these experiences challenged my ideas of what a Belizean truly was. I saw these people not as separate/different from me, what I saw were the similarities we all face. What I saw and what I experienced was something raw, something that has touched me and spoke to me. I have been trying to pin down what this exact thing is and the best answer I could come up with was Hospitality. It's funny because I'm from Alabama where Southern Hospitality is legendary here but this was different. These people, who had never known us a single day in their life opened their homes, their cultures, and their minds to us in a way I did not expect. And that is what I think spoke to me the most about Belize, the willingness to share, the community that you build while you are there, and the friends that you will keep forever.