With our departure only three days away, things are getting exciting. We have a lot of exciting things on our itinerary including hikes, tours, and time spent working with Nature Seekers. I am especially excited to work face to face with our partners Nature Seekers and for them to share in-sites on their operations. As we get closer I am starting to realize that the work we are doing actually has an impact and is important to the people we are working with. On our itinerary, we have lots of time dedicated to working on our service learning project so I am both confident and excited because we will have plenty of time to get everything done while learning about their Non profit. I am in the mindset that we are there to learn, not to teach. Even though we are helping them with the work we are doing, we are traveling to their home. This means that we are the learners while we are there. This really excites me because I feel as if throughout the semester we have been doing a lot of work to prepare and help Nature Seekers. To flip the roles while we are there and learn from them about their company and industry is going to be a healthy change and incredibly interesting. From a professional view, this is going to grow my consulting skills incredibly. We will get actual experience of meeting up with a “client” after a lot of preparation and we will even have time to reflect after. I am excited to go to Trinidad with a mixed mindset of both professionalism and curiosity so I can experience this trip fully. From a less formal standpoint, there are plenty of things that excite me elsewhere on the itinerary. I noticed we have a hike to the Mermaid pool which especially excites me because it is actually a tour that is offered by Nature Seekers on their website. I took some time to look at pictures and a description of the pool and I can’t wait to get there. Also, that same day we are taking a trip to get ice cream at night which is something I look forward to. I am also excited to spend time in the Port of Spain because I want to see what life is like in the capitol of Trinidad. We have spent a lot of time learning about their culture and what we should expect when we get to Trinidad so it is going to be interesting to compare what we learned to what we actually see. I am excited to meet some locals too because I want to learn directly from people who live there. We have been encouraged to make conversation and I think it is an extraordinary way to learn about culture in a way we would never be able to here at Pitt.

As I talked about briefly, we have learned a lot about Trinidad’s culture to fully prepare ourselves for the experience while we are there. Obviously, the work we are doing is heavily dominated by consulting with Nature Seekers so you would think cultural differences would play a role in the business we are conducting with them. However, I can confidently say that I don’t foresee many issues with cultural differences when it comes to practicing business. I am definitely a little bit nervous to get there and actually work face to face, but cultural differences isn’t something that has been stuck in my mind. However, there are some small things that could possibly play a role and have an affect on our work. For instance, the heat could make myself and the other students slightly uncomfortable if we are working in hot weather that we aren’t used to. More applicably, we could differ in our ideas of what quality is suitable for our deliverables. These are slight issues that I could see getting in the way, but I am most worried about how our communication will go when we are face to face. Communication via email has proven to be slightly difficult and I wonder if it will shift over and create problems in person. Don’t be fooled, our partners in country are incredibly friendly and have answered all of our questions. However, differences in cultural norms create different response times and different forms of communication. When in person, we may struggle to understand certain things that we are each referring to or it may be difficult to effectively communicate what work we did and how they should use it. Either way, I am sure that we will be able to get over these simple barriers and face no cultural difference issues in country.

With so much time spent working with our partners in country and being on their site, I expect to learn a lot about how Nature Seekers works. Throughout our preparation, we have been briefed on Nature Seekers work and have even met with some of their members via zoom. Despite this preparation, I believe I have so much to learn about Nature Seekers as a company. I hope to learn what drives people to work for them and what it is like to be there on their compound. Additionally, I will get to see some of their tours first hand, including the Mermaid pool tour and the Turtle tour. From these, I hope to understand why they are so successful as a non profit and how they drive people to come check out their eco-tourism. By spending numerous days on their compound, I will get an idea of what their day to day operations looks like. I am excited to learn about what sort of things are everyday tasks for them and what sort of problems they have. One of our goals is to create a ten-year plan for our partnership with Nature Seekers. So, by learning about what kind of problems Nature Seekers has by being physically on their compound, we can better plan for our long-term partnership with them. From another perspective, I hope to learn about what sort of things are important when consulting internationally. As I talked about in my previous blog, I hope to work in international business in the future. Therefore, gaining international consulting experience in Trinidad will help me prepare for my future and open the doors to international work. As I stated, this a learning experience. Now is the time for me to get my feet wet and figure out what sort of things I need to become comfortable with and what sort of things I need to work on.

In class, we have been doing many readings that are meant to educate and prepare ourselves for Trinidad. They have all been interesting, but the readings about ethics have had the most impact on me in my preparation. One specific reading gave us insight on a Global Service Learning experience that took place in Cuba in which students from Canada were part of. The reading discussed the experience and problems that they faced during their time in Cuba. One of the problems they had was poor communication before they got in country. Another major problem they had, and one which we talked about a lot in class, was that they work they did wasn’t really effective. Reading about these problems allowed me to think myself about if we could face similar problems and if it is possible to prevent things like this from happening. I believe that our itinerary, considering it was recently updated, reflects a schedule that is effective and will prevent any problems from happening in country. We have communicated with our partners via email during our preparation, but I believe that communication will be much easier in person. I think that the communication we have done to prepare is suitable so we are prepared. Additionally, we have been working very hard. The work we are doing is definitely needed for Nature Seekers so I am incredibly confident that our work won’t be overlooked and it will help the operations of Nature Seekers. One other major problem the Canadians had was that they weren’t the learners a lot of the time. They found that they were the ones teaching the Cubans about what they were doing even though they were the visitors and they were meant to be the ones learning. I know for sure that we have set ourselves up perfectly to learn a lot about Nature Seekers and Trinidad’s culture in general during our time there. Personally, I am incredibly interested in Nature Seeker’s operations which is why I have dedicated so much time to it already. I am also interested in Trinidad in general. I can’t wait to learn about their culture in person rather than in Pittsburgh and to see incredible sites and go on tours that will expose me to their culture.

To end off this blog I want to thank my professors, Bryan Schultz, Rick Moslen, Phil Hnatkovich, and Stephanie Spirk for their continuous support in the classroom. I additionally want to thank our funders for the program for making this all possible. I am incredibly excited to get to Trinidad!