Category: Honors service (page 3 of 5)

Day 1: Santiago

June 9, 2014 / / Comments Off on Day 1: Santiago

Following a long night spent in the New York City airport, it was so amazing to walk out of the Santiago airport and be greeted by warm weather!  I never thought that I would be so grateful for humidity!  Dana and Jon, the Yspaniola representatives, met us outside the airport with fresh pineapple and bananas they had just bought at the market, a wonderful and delicious surprise.  As we traveled to our hotel, it was immediately noticeable just how different life in the DR is from the US.  The towns we drove through were very poor, possibly poorer than I had expected.

 

It surprised me when I was told that we had reached Santiago.  Being that it is a major city, I expected a more tourist-oriented environment but witnessed quite the opposite.  I learned that while Santiago is a major city in the DR, it is not built for tourism and therefore does not have the features I expected to find in a city. 

 

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We then got to walk around the city quite a bit before lunch.  I will admit that it was very uncomfortable being a member of a group of 10 Americans walking down the main streets in Santiago.  People immediately approached us for money or were yelling at us from across the street.  What was really cool though was that while walking around, we ran into four girls from the Batey that Dana knows.  They were in the city for the graduation ceremony of one of the Yspaniola scholars, Julio.  I later learned that Julio is the first Yspaniola scholar to graduate college.  I can only imagine how important of a day it must have been for both him and the Batey.

 

Then it was lunch time!  It is safe to say that I always had a full stomach after meals in the DR.  I made sure to clean my plate, as I am preparing myself for leaving clean plates at my host family’s house.  I have heard that Timami, my host mother, enjoys it when her guests eat all of their food.  I think I could talk for paragraphs alone on how rich and flavorful the food here is, but I’ll save your taste buds the trouble!  What was really interesting about lunch was that little children were standing outside of the restaurant selling stuff and staring at us while we ate.  It was hard not to look at them.  I felt bad for them when I realized that this is what they do everyday.

 

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Our group also got a visit from a stray cat during lunch.  The animal situation here is quite interesting in that there have been a number of stray dogs and cats I have seen wandering throughout the city.  This was also the case during a winter service trip I took to Puerto Rico this past year.  It is such a culture shock to see the dozens of hungry dogs and cats stranded on the streets.

 

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 zzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzz….It was siesta time!  Having had minimal sleep in the last 24 hours, everyone came to the conclusion that rest was necessary before dinner.

 

Before heading to dinner, we walked quite a ways to a monument constructed by Trujillo, an infamous dictator of the DR, for himself during his reign.  There were a bunch of stairs to get up to the monument, but once at the top the view was breathtaking.  Unfortunately, the gates to the monument itself were locked, so we were unable to climb up higher.  We hung out and watched the sun set over the mountains, a memory I will never forget.

 

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For dinner, you guessed it!  We had tostones (fried plantains) and chicken!  I honestly do not think that I could ever get sick of this food.  Ask me again in a week and my answer may change!  We finished the day off with some ice cream and got to bed early.  It is crazy to think that we have only been in the Dominican Republic for a little over 12 hours!  We walked the streets of Santiago so frequently today that I already feel so comfortable with it all.  I cannot wait to see what the rest of this week has in store for us!

~Nick Martin, 2016

A Break from the Traditional Break

April 21, 2014 / / Comments Off on A Break from the Traditional Break

This past spring break, I decided to veer away from the sunny beaches of Florida and apply for a UDaB trip, which is UD’s alternative break program for those who are unfamiliar with the infamous acronym. Originally, when I applied for UDaB, I envisioned going halfway across the country to New Orleans, or even traveling somewhere outside of the United States. So when I found out I would be spending my highly anticipated spring break working with Habitat for Humanity in Vineland, New Jersey, I was pretty bummed that I would be staying the week in my home state. As the days leading up to the trip passed, I actually became less and less excited about going because I just could not fathom why everyone was so crazy about UDaB. Little did I know that the day we departed for Cumberland County would be the start of my absolute favorite days of college thus far.

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 11.21.08 AM The first time I saw the house that we would be working on for the week, I was a little disillusioned simply because it appeared almost finished from the outside. When I used to think of Habitat for Humanity, I would think of literally erecting a house from nothing within one week, not just putting the finishing touches on one that is already basically complete. After spending just ten minutes inside the house, I quickly realized that there is a lot of work that goes into the most miniscule of details. For instance, two other girls and I worked on one window frame for an entire afternoon! Although getting the measurements wrong one or two (or five) times was extremely frustrating, the outcome was something that made us prouder than any ‘A’ that we could have earned on even the most brutal of exams.

I have to admit, on the first day, as our three vans traveled just a measly hour across the Delaware border, I found myself wondering if I would even make any friends within the group of 19 students who were selected for the trip; everyone just seemed so quiet and reserved at first. However, by the end of the first night at our lodge, I’ve never seen a group of strangers have such an amazing time together. I have no idea how it happened, but the group just meshed so perfectly it was astounding. Needless to say, there were innumerable tears at the end of the week when we had to return to real life and split from our newfound group of tightknit friendship.

Not only did we return to UD with some pretty handy hard skills, but we also learned a lot about ourselves along the way. I honestly did not think I would even go near a power saw over the course of the trip because I’m usually too afraid to use machinery, but after just the first day I ended up being the one that my fellow volunteers would turn to in order to have a piece of wood or siding cut for them.  By the end of the week, I even rapped in front of the entire group (and if you know me, you know I would NEVER do that). The bottom line is, going on this UDaB Habitat for Humanity trip taught me not only how to be confident around others, but how to be confident internally, and that is something that cannot be taught in any classroom.

Imperfection, Madness, and Alternative Spring Break

April 9, 2014 / / 1 Comment

Before you being reading this blog post, please take note of the following: I am a UDAB site leader. This organization means a great deal to me. So if you are sick of hearing about the productive/worldly/influential things that people did over break while you were at home watching Netflix or drinking in Florida, I get it. But you should also probably stop reading. Because this will make you vomit.

My freshman year of college, I randomly decided to apply for an alternative spring break trip. By complete chance, I was accepted to the program. The trip wasn’t perfect. We had to get up at 4:45 am and walk through campus with our snack-heavy duffels from Russell to Trabant. Our bus had a broken DVD player and axel, which busted somewhere in rural Virginia, leaving us stranded for four hours. I forgot a bandana and never had a hot shower. As a group we managed to obtain some very awkward tan lines.

It was without a doubt, the second best week of my life. I came back enlightened, inspired, and invigorated. In mid-May, I learned that I would be among the newest class of UDAB site leaders. I was ecstatic.

photo (2)As it turns out, planning an alternative spring break trip requires a great deal more work than participating in one does. My stress levels were almost entirely determined by what was happening with UDAB. If we had a SAS cupcake fundraiser approaching, I was happy. If we were sitting in Perkins for hours on end conducting interviews, I was drained. If I stopped for a single second to remember that I was leading a new trip to one of the most rural and impoverished areas in the country under the direction of lovable but less-than-organized hippies, I was panicked. Two days before the trip I found myself crying in a public bathroom and running on six hours of sleep in two days.

Once again, my trip wasn’t perfect. We got somewhat lost in the back-roads of West Virginia. I unknowingly forced my participants to sleep in a frigid yurt (see Google for description) on the very first night. As it turns out, ticks are fairly common in heavily wooded areas and snow in late March is a possibility. My expectations were so far from reality, it was actually comical.

But it was, without a doubt, the best week of my life, for reasons that cannot be explained in simple words or iPhone photographs. I learned more from my fellow site leader, from my participants, and from our community partner in seven days than I learn over the course of an entire school year. For seven days, I lived life in the most beautiful way. For seven days, I was a part of something larger than myself.

UDAB is a lot of work. It’s a lot of higher-level thinking, advanced planning, organizational jargon, color-coded spreadsheets, and early-weekend-morning activities. Unlike so many things in life however, it’s worth every ounce of work exerted. I have zero regrets about the hours of sleep lost, the personal dishevelment obtained, the countless emails sent, or the quantity of tears shed. Because in the grand scheme of things, these negative aspects were minimal when compared to the reward. UDAB has brought me far more joy than sadness. It’s made my college experience. It’s shown me the best possible version of myself. It’s changed so many lives for the better, and I hope that this year’s participants had an equally incredible experience.

You can vomit now.

Every Pie Counts

October 17, 2013 / / Comments Off on Every Pie Counts

I love dessert! And I especially love pie. Whether it’s chocolate, apple, or cherry, nothing is better than having a delicious warm dessert with your friends. It is always an annual tradition at my house to have warm pumpkin pie during the holidays. This week, I got to try a new kind of pie, whipped cream pie, and this time I didn’t get to eat it. Instead, I had six whipped cream pies thrown in my face in order to raise money for the B Positive foundation.

The B Positive Foundation supports childhood cancer patients by offering money to families who have children that are diagnosed with cancer. I recently became involved in initiatives that support the B Positive charity and each week in our building, there is an event to support patients or raise money for the foundation.

This week, the event was titled, “Pie your RA.” Each of the staff members in the building offered to be “pied” in the face if their residents paid three dollars. There was a great turn out, and one of the RAs got 27 pies thrown at him. Afterwards, everyone was drenched in whipped cream. The lounge was a wreck and furniture askew. However no one seemed to care because in just one hour we had raised $500 for the B positive foundation and that’s what was important. One silly event turned out to be a huge success.

Going to weekly events like this has shown me the importance of service on the University of Delaware campus. Simply making a birthday card for a kid in the hospital, recording a performance to broadcast to hospital patients, or volunteering to be “pied” in the face can make a huge difference. This year my eyes have been opened to the plethora of service opportunities on our campus. Even the smallest form of service impacts someone, and won’t go unnoticed.

Now service means so much more to me. It occurs everywhere, all around us, and is anything that can make a difference in people’s lives. So, next time you’re in line for Dunkin Donuts, offer to pay for the person behind you, compliment the girl who sits next to you in math, write a letter to your favorite mentor, or go donate your old clothes to a homeless shelter. In each and every way you’ll be serving.

It was amazing that I could help raise $500 for a charity, just by participating in the event “pie your RA.” Even something as silly as having whipped cream smeared in my face had a significance and helped raise money. The next time someone asks me to participate in a service event, I won’t think that my small contribution is negligible. Each small act of service spreads kindness. What kind of service events are you involved in and who can you impact? Remember, every dollar counts. Every act counts. Every pie counts.

~Amanda Abrom

Rain at 3.30 a.m., taken by blogger Claire Davanzo.

The Quest for Ed Sheeran, Part 1

September 6, 2013 / / Comments Off on The Quest for Ed Sheeran, Part 1

Last Sunday, in case you’ve forgotten in the whirl wind of classes, activities, and last-minute errands, was move-in day for upperclassmen. I was here with bells on, in an all but full-to-bursting Taurus X, with my mom and sister. I won’t bore you with the endless flights of stairs, or the woes of learning how to use my air conditioner.

This is about the precise moment my little sister, Allie, heard that Ed Sheeran was coming to UD for the fall concert, the squeak of joy she let out at this news, and the madness I knew, from that moment, I would be going through to get her a ticket.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Ed Sheeran. I was guilty of poetic car-singing to “The A Team” this winter session (and with the daily, half-hour commute I was doing to Talley Middle School, paired with the popularity of that song? I know all the words). However, if I am the person who likes Ed Sheeran, Allie is the person who adores Ed Sheeran.

In the completely non-creepy, non-Belieber-esque way. I’m very proud.

Once we’d cleared things with the taxi dri- with my mom, we started planning how best to acquire these elusive tickets. Initially, my friends and I thought we would camp out outside Trabant to get both amazing seats and the free Ed Sheeran t-shirts for the first fifty people in line… Then decided that no, we valued sleep much more highly than tickets. In the end, the plan was to wake up and meet up at Trabant to get online at 3:45 a.m. Three fourty-five a.m., because we’d just escape the people who planned to get there at 4am. I set my alarm for 3:15, went to bed early, forced myself to sleep, and woke up as planned.

… I had not expected rain.

Rain at 3.30 a.m., taken by blogger Claire Davanzo.

Rain at 3.30 a.m., taken by blogger Claire Davanzo.

Daunted does not even begin to describe how I felt setting out, in the pouring rain, for Trabant at 3.30 in the morning. I didn’t even make it to the bridge before I’d forgone my shoes in favour of walking barefoot, hopping through puddles. When I reached Trabant, at first I thought I was the first person there (!!!)… Only to discover that others had literally slept in the parking garage overnight in their wait for the tickets, marking their spaces on line by water bottles.

And then we waited from 4:00am to 8:00am, in the on and off rain and surprising morning chill. We were within the first 100 people, too, which meant we’d be enrolled in a chance to meet and greet Ed Sheeran.

We got our tickets (which, in case you were wondering, are excellent). I thought that was it. That I’d managed it.

Until I found out I’d won the meet and greet.

Thanks to a very, very generous friend and fellow winner (thanks, Matt!!), my sister and I will be doing that, too. Which of course, means an incoming “Quest for Ed Sheeran, Part 2.” Stay tuned.

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