Nicaragua

A few years ago when I was in high school I was able to take the trip of my life time. I went on a service learning trip to the country of Nicaragua to assist less fortunate people with building various different things to help them live their daily lives. This trip had impacted me in many ways so I decided after my first trip I wanted to go again the next year and so I did and it made me realize many different things. 

One major thing I learned from this trip is to never take anything for granted. Within my first twenty four hours of this trip there was a common thing I noticed about every person I saw, they were all happy. for miles and miles all there was on the sides of the roads were little shacks covered in blue tarps that looked like a big gust of wind would blow them down. Within the major city like Granada and Managua there were many historic site of the country's past with large beautiful markets and many people cramped into the city lawn but once outside of the major city there was nothing. This had been a major culture shock for me. Coming from a small town in Connecticut I had really never seen life or even though about it outside of the country and it blew me away. I had always thought how boring my town was and how dark and miserable it was but after seeing how some of these people lived and they were still capable of smiling or joking it was nearly breathtaking and it changed my outlook on life. 

With as much as I have done with my short time on this earth my trip to this third world country definitely had the biggest affect on my life. This taught me so much within the short span of time I was there. I was able to see the historic sights, travel around the country, see how others lived and practice my Spanish speaking skills. This trip was beneficial to me in many ways and I am more than proud of myself for taking advantage of this opportunity and would take a trip like this again in a heart beat.