Adiós GSL Puerto Rico!

My global service-learning experience to declare the least has been nothing short of spontaneous, a truly whirlwind experience. Never would I ever have anticipated having completed our project with Caras in a remote location under complete lockdown amid a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. That said, my time in Global Service Learning left me with valuable key…

Transitioning GSL Puerto Rico to Zoom University amidst COVID-19

Oh my! It is incredible to think the rate at which the circumstances have drastically altered since my last blog post! The exact instance in which I recall that where I received the news that all the University of Pittsburgh canceled Spring 2020 study abroad, opportunities were eye-opening and shocking with a multitude of emotions…

T-5 Days Till Puerto Rico

         We are now in the home stretch until our departure to Puerto Rico. The time has flown by, and I can’t wait five more days till I can escape the thirty-degree winter weather of Pittsburgh. In exactly one week, our team will be assisting Caras con Causa to implement a marketing initiative for their…

Goodbye, GSL

My GSL experience taught me a lot about gratitude. Was I upset that our trip was canceled? Absolutely. Gratitude isn’t something that comes to you after one experience alone, but I think that GSL opened my eyes to see that the world is much bigger than the bit of it where I reside. I was…

From the classroom. To the city. To my living room.

This semester has been a whirlwind with many ups and downs. It was filled with challenges that no one could predict and definitely did not go the way I expected it to. However, there were many opportunities to adjust and grow. While the global portion of global service learning never got off the ground (quite…

Final GSL Lessons and Thoughts

Overall, I would say my experience in Service-Learning Organizations, though not what I initially anticipated, was a positive one. What I foresaw to be my first taste of a study abroad experience, soon turned into a test of will, perseverance, and dedication. With the final presentation and report completed, I can begin to reflect on…

Global Service Learing in my Living Room: What I Learned

If you told me in January that I’d be writing this blog in my hometown locked in my house during a global pandemic, not having had travelled to Puerto Rico, I would have laughed in your face. I did not expect any of this to turn out the way it did; how could anyone? We…

And that’s a Wrap

My experiences in my Global Service Learning have been interesting to say the least, and the class did not go at all how I expected. Due to the constantly evolving nature of this course, I was able to learn a few key lessons. The first of which is that life is unpredictable and has a…

Ramifications

Upon learning of spring break program cancelations, I was disappointed and surprised. The closest-reaching impact of the coronavirus to my life at that point was the shutdown of my roommate’s semester in Florence. This made sense to me due to the widespread outbreak Italy was facing. In the case of GSL Puerto Rico’s cancelation, I…