Welcome back! As I sit here writing this final blog post I can’t help but be in shock that this semester is already coming to an end. At the beginning it seemed as if we had forever until I would be writing this, but now reality has set in and I realise I have less classes left than I do fingers on one hand. My experience in this Global Service Learning course has been nothing short of fantastic, and I have many memories that will be a part of me for the rest of my life. 

As I reflect on my personal journey in this class there are a few main lessons that I will take away. I believe that the biggest aspect that I improved was my communication skills. In the early sessions of our class I was chosen by my group to be the, “group leader.” This position does not make me any more valuable than my other team members, rather it put me in charge of ensuring that our assignments were completed on time, and it made me the main communicator with Nature Seekers and All People Be Happy. I believe that I am very personable when I meet new people, but in the case of Nature Seekers I had to approach our communication differently. It is difficult to form any sort of camaraderie over email or text chains which led to me having to develop a professional side of communication. When I text or email someone I know well I often use slang or abbreviations because I know they will understand me, and the situation allows for the ease of unprofessional communication. Getting in contact with Nature Seekers was not a time to leverage my existing communication strategies. Instead, I had to write out direct and well thought out emails to establish a professional relationship with Nature Seekers while also passing along our inquiries. That being said, one aspect that I expected to encounter was the slower urgency of responses from Nature Seekers. As I stated in a previous blog post – I have lived in a very regimented world, and do not do the best when my days are not oriented in such a way. Trinidad works on “Trini Time” which helped me improve my communication. Because I knew that my contact attempts would take time to elicit a response I needed to make sure that my email had all of the information I needed it to. My group and professors greatly helped me review the content of my emails each time before I sent them out.

In the same vein, I greatly improved my collaboration skills. In my nearly three years of college I have had tons of group projects, a dozen in this semester alone, and in most of them the project ended before any true collaboration was exhibited. This is where my GSL experience greatly differs from the other group assignments I have worked on. Before we even had visited Trinidad our group had worked together for weeks building rapport with each other, a detailed scope of work, and a fairly exhaustive list of potential systems for Nature Seekers to evaluate. This was very important as it allowed for great group collaboration when we went to Trinidad. Additionally, our group was able to collaborate and develop personal relationships with all the staff at Nature Seekers. Our blossoming relationships with each other and those we met led to greater conversations as everyone wanted to learn more about each other. I believe that this collaboration was extremely beneficial because it allowed for the free flowing of thoughts and ideas, which helped us gain a better understanding of Trinidad –  more specifically Nature Seekers. A class article that ties into both of these ideas is called Building an Ethical Partnership by Dawn J Lipthrott. This article talks about the need for each person to adhere to several core values in order to foster an ethical partnership. These core values are personal responsibility and accountability; respect; care and value for the well-being of all; integrity; collaboration. I believe that my group was able to meet and go beyond these expectations in building our partnership with Nature Seekers. I could fill several pages on why I believe that, but to save you some reading I will give the abridged version. I mention collaboration above, but additionally I believe each one of us consciously put in effort to respect and care for each person we met in Trinidad. The reason we worked so well together was because we all had different methods of interacting with different people. Some of us built sandcastles and volcanoes with Zayden, while others carried his boots and held his hand as we walked down the beach. Sometimes our conversations with Tiara and Johnathan were full of laughs and talking about our favorite music artists, while others tackled difficult concepts such as death and love. These are just two examples of the many ways that we each worked differently to create a supportive environment to encourage collaboration as well as develop new friendships. Additionally, as we continued to have interactions with each other it became more and more apparent that we are not that different at all. We live in different places, with different livelihoods, and different communities, but despite that we all are the same. Through our conversations it became apparent that we share similar pains and joys. Ultimately, the main thing that differentiates us is how we love one another, and experience that love.

In this line of work, relationships are the foundation from which everything is built off of. My past two blog posts have been mostly centered around the relationships that were created in Trinidad, and their importance to our work. However, the relationship built by Pitt and previous groups that were in Matura was essential to bridging the gap between us and those at Nature Seekers. There was not a single person that we met while in Trinidad that did not welcome us with open arms. A large part of that has to do with the culture of the area and how tightly knit the community is, but I believe that the existing relationship with Pitt helped with that as well. The way that each person we met made us feel so welcomed made us more attached to our work and ensuring that it benefits the organization. Being the second group to work with Nature Seekers was advantageous because they already had an idea of how to plan our itinerary. Also, when we arrived in Mature at 5 Am on our first day they changed the timing and location of our events so that we could get more rest. Once again, I believe that is just the kind of people that work there, but the positive relationship that Nature Seekers has with Pitt likely made them more inclined to do so.

This program was an incredible experience for me in a professional and personal way. I am certain that my experience in this program will be something that I will be asked about in a professional interview in the future as it is something I will always keep on my resume. When asked about what I did I will have to fight the urge to tell them every detail of every day and show them the 600 pictures we have in a shared photo album. Instead I will focus more on the mission and the transferable skills that I have gained. First I will give a high-level overview of Nature Seekers and emphasize the importance of their work with turtle conservation and their overall impact on the community. After they have an understanding of the business I will dive into what I was able to take away from the experience. As stated earlier, I believe I took leaps in the development of my communication and collaboration skills. I learned many new skills that can help me in the world of consulting (a future career I am interested in) such as how to develop a scope of work, final presentation of deliverables, and how to effectively create and maintain an ethical and beneficial partnership. Additionally I believe my problem-solving skills improved due to this class. We were given guidelines of what to accomplish, but the way we did it was up to us. This led to lots of hands-on work by each of us, and when there was a problem with our deliverables we worked well together to remedy it.

There are many helpful tips that I could give for future groups, but I am going to stick to three that I believe are most beneficial. First, you should meet everyone. My journals and blogs endlessly sing the praises of Trinidad and each person we met there. I could not remember someone that we talked to who was abrasive to us at all. The culture there is one built on love for each other and their home. By talking to people in the country you gain a better understanding of their culture. Also, at least for my group, we found that we were far more invested in picking the perfect system for our deliverables because we truly cared about the people there and how it would benefit them. My second piece of advice is to stop saying no and try new things. I like the two of these things together because in order to try new things you need to stop saying no and fully embrace what you are doing. There will be several times where you are in Trinidad and there will be a situation where you are not entirely sure of what to do. My advice is to go all out. Try all of the food, even if you are a picky eater, because you likely won’t be able to try it again and it is better than you expect. When it comes to activities, don’t hold back at all. We had so much fun in a dance class we were hesitant about because, instead of just going through the motions, we chose to fully embrace it and dance our tail feathers off. My last piece of advice is to make the most of your time. When you are in the classroom make the most of your group work time because it is much easier to work with each other in person than to find time for several college kids to work together outside of class. Similarly, make the most of your time spent in Trinidad. Dive head first into each of the activities (figuratively) that you have the opportunity to engage in. You are there to meet with the client and discuss your deliverables, but you are also there to fully experience what it is like to be a guest at Nature Seekers. Don’t be afraid to have fun – that’s what you are going to remember most anyways. My group spent an afternoon in a sweltering hallway painting for a few hours. That does not sound like much fun at all, but we all chose to fully embrace the situation and with a little music it turned out to be one of the best times we had. Ranked behind the 2 hours of Marco Polo we played afterwards to cool off. 

At this point in my blog I am about 800 words past the recommended amount so I will quickly wrap this up. Overall, this program has taught me an endless amount and opened my eyes to the different possibilities of international business. Once again I would like to thank my group that I have been able to share this experience with, my professors, and every single person that we interacted with while in Trinidad. You all have contributed to making this one of my favorite classes I have ever taken as well as one of the best weeks of my life, spent in Trinidad.

P.S. Enjoy some additional pictures from our trip