I have a little less than one month left here in the Dominican Republic. I feel like I have been here for so long, but I also feel like I arrived yesterday. Over these past three weeks I have shifted my work with Community Service Alliance (CSA). Before I arrived, they gave me a calendar schedule of what they expected from me as part of the internship. During the last third of my internship, about 3/4 weeks CSA has asked me to help with a grant proposal. I have never written a grant before, so I was shocked when they asked me to be a part of the team. The proposal is to create a space that will better help the community’s financial independence, safety and vocational training for some individuals in the community. Although I haven’t written a grant proposal before, the team has been very helpful and open to hearing my suggestions and has given me space to write freely. I am very excited to be a part of the beginning stages of this program and to get an experience that I may never have gotten at another placement agency.

With Easter break approaching, the school has been sending the students on school field trips. I was able to assist two classes, we went to the aquarium and a museum. A second-grade class went to the aquarium and a first grade class went to the museum. Both times we took a large bus, school psychologist played music and the kids danced the whole way there. Both trips were in the city near Zona Colonial so it took about an hour to arrive with traffic. Zona Colonial, is located near the coast and as I have mentioned before the school, I am volunteering at is in a rural, low-income part of the Country. For many of the students it was the first time that they were out of their neighborhood and/or to see the ocean. They were ecstatic! Seeing their faces pressed against the bus’s windows was probably my favorite part of the experience.

There is a metro system here that makes it so easy to get into the city from Los Alcorrizos but first you need to take a carro público (taxi) for about 20 minutes to the station and then you can go anywhere in the city. My roommate and I went to the south part of the city to a rock-climbing event. It was such a fun experience! We had no idea what to expect but we met so many people and to my surprise so many people that can speak English and Spanish. I met a woman that was finishing her PHD program as a marine biologist who is from India originally but has been going to school in Europe. I was so amazed by her experiences, we talked the entire time I was there. Doing small events that I would do in Buffalo but meeting new people from around the world, exchanging numbers and networking is the best thing that going abroad offers. You will always meet at least one person that you will keep in contact with for the rest of your life.

As I spend my last three weeks here, I am truly going to live in the moment. People say experiences like this only happen once in a lifetime but from my personal experience and meeting the people I have along the way I’ve learned that experiences like this happen if you want them to happen. There are many organizations that you can connect with to have a once in a lifetime opportunity. The study abroad program at the University at Buffalo being one of them. If I could say one thing to the students reading this that have an itch for going aboard. I would tell them to take the leap, don’t let fear hold you back, you will always learn something new about yourself and you will never regret it. Your limit is endless.

I only have a couple posts left, thank you everyone who has taken the time to keep up with my journey so far!