My Final Reflection on GSL

Hello everyone, welcome back for my final blog post for the Global Service Learning: Trinidad program. While it did not go exactly how I wanted it to go and we were unable to travel abroad, I still learned a lot of invaluable lessons throughout my experience. The first main lesson that I learned is to…

The Largest Pivot I Hope to Ever Have to Take

I have learned a lot about myself, school, and life throughout the last month. Coming into my final week of the spring 2020 semester, I feel tired. The University of Pittsburgh usually ends for the summer a week or so earlier than other universities and I am very thankful for that this year. Although I…

Farewell, GSL…

The end of my sophomore year spring semester is approaching. It is shocking to me to see how much has changed in myself and in my environment over a short, yet seemingly long, four months. While I did not get to travel over spring break as planned, I still received a unique experience that I…

One Final Post: So Close, Yet So Far

The course of this project has brought the team many unexpected obstacles and outcomes that, a few months ago, I would have never believed to be possible. While the world that we are living in right now faces hardships and we rely on virtual communication to get through the day, I continue to encounter challenges…

Global Service Learning: The Final Reflection

After the rollercoaster ride that was the Spring 2020 semester at Pitt, it is finally coming to an end. While a lot of changes occurred mentally, physically, socially, and academically, I learned a lot about life that I will hold close to me as I move forward into my junior year at Pitt Business. With…

Embracing the Sad of No Trinidad

I learned a lot throughout my semester in this Global Service Learning class. First and foremost, I have gained an understanding about expectations versus reality. As March began, I was frantically preparing my supplies for my trip to Trinidad and buying sunscreen and bug wipes on Amazon. Just a couple days later, I was lying…

Living Alone Together: A New Virtual World

The last few weeks have been a constant period of rapid changes occuring in my world, and in the world around me. Just one month ago I was writing a blog post recounting my excitement and eagerness to head to Trinidad and work with our clients, the DORCAS Women’s group and Nature Seekers, but now…

Overcoming the COVID-19 Obstacle

It’s still upsetting knowing that we were unable to go to Trinidad but taking a look at the situation almost three weeks after the decision, the University made the right call by cancelling all Spring Break study abroad programs. At the time, there were a few confirmed cases in the United States but not nearly…

Adapting

Wow. What a whirlwind. I will never forget sitting in 2200 Sennott on March 3rd when the email went out announcing that all spring break travel was canceled. I was completely devastated for a plethora of reasons which I will dive into throughout this blog post. My global service-learning student team is amazing; we have…