I’m back from Puerto Rico! Where do I even begin. The whole experience was so incredibly enriching in every aspect possible. Though it was unforgettable, I don’t have the best memory for a day-by-day recap. Instead, I can remember the days by my favorite moments with the people I was there with.
After a long and tiring travel day, we spent our first full day in Old San Juan. We all did some shopping, ate these life-changing sandwiches, and explored what we could before heading back for dinner. We ate pasta on the terrace at our hotel around 6pm and ended up sitting together for the rest of the night, just talking and playing card games. This night was definitely one of my favorites, though we were all still getting to know each other it felt like we were comfortable being ourselves—something I’ve learned is important to not take for granted. From then on out, each day somehow was better than the last.
The greatest gift from the trip, and I think my whole group would agree, was being able to meet with the CEO and founder of Caras con Causa, Michael Fernández on Tuesday. He inspired me down to my core to find work that is meaningful to me and to create what I want to see in the world. He was so open and honest about what he deals with that even my biggest aspirations started to seem possible. The insight he provided to not only our project, but the world he works in was immensely luminating. I got to ask him how he stays motivated despite having so many antagonists towards his work and he credited the people he works with as what keeps him going. This sparked an appreciation in me for everyone I was meeting and getting to know, especially my groupmates, as they all have something uniquely valuable to offer. This perspective both strengthens our ability to work together and also helps me better see what skills I can learn from them.
Moving on, we spent Tuesday doing a lot of outside work, which was a personal highlight for me. We shoveled dirt and compost, planted trees, and cleared a section of invasive plants from Las Cucharillas Natural Reserve. I’ve always preferred more tactile learning experiences especially when they’re outside, so this was really fun!! By the time we headed home for dinner we had planted about 190 seedlings (and my hands were very awesomely covered in dirt).
Thursday was our touristy day; we went to the beach and El Yunque. Both were absolutely phenomenal. The views from El Yunque were unmatched, so rich in color and life, and the vibes from the beach were genuinely unforgettable. Marc, our faithful DJ, was playing music, Jeff and Yahir were digging a concerningly large hole, and the rest of us were either in the water or laying out soaking up the sun. I think we would’ve stayed there all night if the beach hadn’t closed at 5pm.
After being reenergized from the Thursday activities, we ended our trip with one last day in Cataño, painting a community members house, and then explored La Marquesa National Park until dinner. We all spent our final night together walking around Old San Juan and listening to some ethereal live music. The whole trip honestly felt too good to be true, I couldn’t say enough good things about Caras con Causa, specifically Adriana, Yahir, Michael, Jaisa and Juan. Huge thank you to them for being the best hosts and creating such an unforgettable experience.
This being my second study abroad experience, I knew what to expect in terms of exhaustion and discomfort, but I had no expectations for what would happen in-country or in what ways it would change me. Both of my study abroad experiences were special and life-changing in their own unique ways, but this one impacted me a bit more personally in terms experience, perspective and confidence gained. My favorite takeaway was that it’s not what type of work I do that matters, but the connection I have to it. For this experience I really connected with each person I met and felt motivated by that alone to work hard on the project and produce a result I’m proud of. I couldn’t possibly recap the trip without crediting each of my FANTASTIC groupmates. Genuinely could not have asked for cooler people to be working with. Marc’s curiosity, Kyla’s contagious passion, Barb’s kindness and Sarah’s confidence and drive all contributed to what made the trip so special. Jeff’s ability to always be a team player and Amiel being as effortlessly funny as he is really glued the group together. The overall curiosity and lightheartedness of our group was perfect for absorbing as much as possible from each experience, and I’m really grateful for that.
The cultural expectations were exceeded for sure, I quickly fell in love with the culture and atmosphere of the communities we visited. I expected the language barrier to be more of a struggle than it actually was, Barb was spot on with translating and we also used our phones to translate when needed. Overcoming the initial discomfort of a language barrier was the hardest part, but even that wasn’t too bad since we were all pretty patient and understanding.
On a more technical note, the structure of the program was really well suited for our experience. We didn’t have to worry about where/when to get food and had a solid rest time scheduled before almost every dinner. I would say the main challenge throughout the trip was the exhaustion of packed days and early starts but using the free time before and after dinner to rest really helped. Also, it was nice to have the evenings free to explore and have fun with the group. It felt really rewarding to go out and have fun after a long day of meaningful work.
Full transparency, before I went on this trip I was applying for internships in environmental consulting, and now, I can’t see myself doing that anymore! This experience helped me realize that the factors motivating me to pursue that were mostly superficial. I feel less scared or stressed by not knowing what I’m going to do and more empowered by all the options out there. I think I used to feel like there was a shortage of things I could do after college, but now I feel like there’s an unknown number of options, and like Juan said, all I need to do is keep pursuing things that I genuinely like. I went into this trip hoping to find direction and came out with so much more.
Lastly, I felt that most if not all of our class discussions and readings helped to prepare me for my experience in some way. Before we left, we all took time in class to discuss our strengths and weaknesses, that was the most we had talked as a group up until departure day and it was really vital to feeling less anxious about leaving (for me at least). Also, all the discussions on fair-trade learning stuck with me throughout the trip as a reminder of what I was there to do and the exchange that was happening. It helped me to take notes seriously and be excited for the work we now get to do for Caras! Overall, my expectations couldn’t have been exceeded more and I can’t wait to go back to Puerto Rico!!