I enrolled in a dual academic/service learning program through my provider ISA. This meant that I spent my time in Ireland taking classes at NUIG while also volunteering in the community. My service learning placement for the semester was with the Irish Girl Guides. Aside from the lack of cookie selling, (bummer, I know) the Irish Girl Guides are the equivalent to the Girl Scouts of America. They earn badges for tasks and camp just like the Girl Scouts do.
I had the honor of working with three different age groups of Girl Guides and each was a new and exciting experience. The Ladybirds were the youngest and obviously most adorable. They ranged in age from about 5 to 7 and were always a delight to be around. I would walk into Ladybirds and suddenly be caught in an intense game of hide and seek in which I would of course always join in. The Guides were the oldest group ranging from 10-13 and they were far less interested in games and would always want to know about my personal life or political views (both of which I side stepped and diverted as much as possible). My favorite time at Guides was when the girls put on an Irish heritage party where we ate traditional Irish food, learned to Irish dance and heard performances on the tin whistle. It was so great to see the girls showcase their culture and I loved every second of it. The Brownies were the most near and dear to my heart because I spent so much time with them. The girls ranged from 7-10 and loved everyday at Girl Guides. One of the things that made my experience so enjoyable was my Guide Leaders Catherine and Caroline. Catherine can only be described as an angelic real life Fairy Godmother. She cares so deeply for the girls and is a ray of sunshine and positive energy. I was so fortunate to work with both her and Caroline as they are both so dedicated to the organization and would do anything for the girls. At Brownies, I had the opportunity to run the Free Being Me badge. Free Being Me is a body positive, self confidence program designed to teach young girls to value their body for the amazing things it can do, not the way it looks. The girls were outraged when they learned about the photo shopping of models and celebrities in magazines. "But she looks great the way she is!" They would shout and anytime a girl would share something they were insecure about, the girls should rush to assure them of their worth and importance. I have never seen a group of girls more supportive of each other and I can only hope their comradery continues as they enter into secondary school. From doing Free Being Me I noticed that the way we talked to girls is often so appearance driven. I would catch myself calling a girl pretty instead of remarkable. I realized I should be complimenting these girls minds and not their outfits. This program taught me we need to take a look at how we women treat each other and foster the strength and independence we want to see in the girls of tomorrow. I was so fortunate to have such an amazing Service Learning experience. I loved participating in Service Learning because it connected me to the community I was living in and gave me an active role in bettering its future. If you ever get the chance to participate in Service Learning or volunteering abroad, take it. You will learn so much more about the community and its needs as well as yourself and your own personal areas of growth.
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Lisbon, Portugal I use the phrase "adventure" in quotation marks because adventure is a loaded word. Adventure, used in its most triumphant manner, means a daring and exciting excursion that is equally treacherous as it is awe inspiring. It is hiking up Manchu Picchu and watching the sunrise or wind gliding over the Mediterranean at dusk. If this is what adventure truly meant, than most of us have never had an adventure in our lives. Adventure to me is anything and everything outside of your comfort zone. It is that first step you take outside of your bubble of comfortability. It is the conscious decision to go against the grain and challenge the conformity in your everyday life. These adventures, if embarked upon, truly shape you who are. Neale Donald Walsch once said, "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." Everyday that I have spent abroad reaffirms Walsch's words and although this journey has tested me, I wouldn't trade it for the world. The thing with traveling is people only see the snapshots. They see the image at the summit and don't know of the difficulties you had rising to the pinnacle. See adventure is also a word used to make the mundane exciting. "Well, at least its an adventure" you say as you take two buses two trains and 21 hours to get to your destination because you missed your ferry (let's just say SNAV ferry and I are NOT on good terms). Adventure is watering down pasta sauce so you don't have to buy more or brushing your teeth in an airport bathroom. Because adventure is about the ups and downs, that's what makes it worth the ride. You eat the same meal for 6 days straight so you can afford to travel to new places and see sights that take your breath away. If I am overemphasizing on the downs of traveling it is only because I feel they are never talked about enough. If you are a broke college student traveling there are certain ordinary amenities that become luxuries. A good example would be washing machines. If you have access to a washing machine AND you don't have to pay you have hit the backpacking jackpot. A dryer in most of these countries is an actual luxury because most people hang dry their clothes instead so if you get your hands on a dryer life is pretty sweet. I traveled for 23 days straight with just my Patagonia backpack and some awesome travel companions. We started in Lisbon, Portugal where we went to the beach, ate delicious pastries and enjoyed Fado, a style of traditional Portuguese music. We also visited Lisbon's old town Alfama which sits on a hill that overlooks the entire city. After Portugal we boarded a nine hour bus to Seville, Spain. In Seville we explored the Alcázar, the royal palace and gardens that looked like it was straight out of Game of Thrones and ate the most amazing tapas at this restaurant by our apartment. We also went to see a Flamenco show which did not disappoint. Flamenco is an art form native to the Andalusian region and our show incorporated singing, dancing and guitar. Next stop was Barcelona where we danced our hearts out like the Cheetah Girls and ate overpriced paella. Then we flew to Pisa, Italy where we purposely took as many horribly centered Leaning Tower photos as we could muster before heading to Florence. In Florence we ate as much Tuscan cuisine as we could stomach and tried our hardest to find Duomo, the dome shaped famous cathedral. Despite its large stature, we spent a great deal of time walking towards many dome shaped buildings only to find it was not the correct one. Florence was a place that I had known I had wanted to go to when I studied because of something my brother told me about. There is a place called Piazzale Michelangelo that overlooks the entire city of Florence. People go up there around dusk and watch the sunset over the city. After my brother told me he did it I knew if I was ever in Florence, that it was a sight I simply had to see. So we hiked up the steps and the view was truly spectacular. Then we headed to Venice which was far more touristy than its Tuscan neighbor but beautiful in its own respect. By the time we had gotten to Venice we were so tired of pizza and pasta we actually ate at a sushi place by our hostel twice to cleanse our pallets. Next stop was Croatia, a tiny coastal country who only recently won their independence 20 years ago. Our first stay was in Split where we were greeted by our airbnb host Pero. Pero was a kind Croatian man who casually started sentences with phrases like "back in communist times.." and "during the war.." It wasn't until talking to Pero that we realized how recent Croatia's war for independence was and this newfangled freedom carried a great sense of pride for the Croatian people. Split is an incredible city with history as rich and old as Ancient Greece. The Diocletian palace sits in the center of the city and dates all the way back to the 4th century. I have never seen as structure as old as the palace and it truly was amazing to see something with such incredible history. We also made the trek up Marjan Hill, a hill that I am thoroughly convinced is actually a full fledged mountain. At the top of the hill was a Croatian flag waving over the sights of the city as well as a cross atop the hill. Our next and last stop was the city of Zadar. Zadar is a small, quiet city on the coast of Croatian that offers a nice relaxing vibe. On our last day in Croatia we visited Krka National Park. Krka National Park is home to some of the most stunning waterfalls in the world and the views were truly remarkable. While we were at the bottom of the falls we saw a man propose to his girlfriend! They did not speak our language so we simply applauded them as they passed and hoped they would have a bright and happy future. And thus was the end of my backpacking trip. It had been a long 23 days and we were thankful to have landed back in Ireland. The amazing thing about traveling is, the more you do it the more places you want to go. You would think traveling for 23 days straight would make you sick of running to catch trains and find your way around new cities but only 7 days later, we were boarding yet another plane in search of another adventure, this time to Holland. I am so incredibly thankful that I was able to have these remarkable experiences and I will always remember the month I spent traveling around Europe with one backpack, four friends and an urge to see as much as I could.
As most people know, the weather in Ireland is less than stellar. Back in ancient times, the Irish used to worship the sun. It was seen so little, they assumed when it did show that it must be a divine gift of holiness. Despite the fact that most Irish are no longer Pagans, when the sun does shine in Galway everyone seems to stop and worship its beauty. A sunny warm day in Galway is unlike anything I have ever seen. Everyone from all walks of life come outside and soak up the sun. Men are shirtless working on their non existent tan despite the fact that it is only 60 degrees and women are out playing with their children in Eyre Square. The best place to go when it is sunny is the Spanish Arch. The Spanish Arch is a 16th century arch that was built to protect merchant ships from looting. The arch was an extension to the 12th century wall that was built by the Normans when the Irish natives were removed from city center during their invasion. Nowadays, college students come to the Spanish Arch sit along the River Corrib and enjoy the weather. One day in April, especially beautiful weather came to Galway and like clockwork the city came alive to celebrate. I had just gotten back from my 23 day long backpacking trip and was enjoying the feeling of my feet planted firmly on the ground and not on one mode of transportation or another. I had dressed up to go visit the Irish Girl Guides, where I did my service learning, to say a goodbye before I left a few weeks later. I was heading to breakfast at Riordans with my boyfriend when I ran into my friend Jill along the way. She told me she was going to jump off Blackrock in Salthill. Blackrock is a place at the end of the Salthill Promenade where there is a diving platform you can jump off which is about 30 feet high. Despite how terrifying it sounded, I had been dying to do it before I left Galway. I told her I would text her if I decided to go thinking I would unfortunately not have enough time to do that before Girl Guides. As I was sitting at breakfast I had to decide: do I jump into freezing cold water from an alarmingly high length and arrive soaking wet to Girl Guides or do I play it safe, keep my hair and makeup intact and look presentable? After a few minutes of hemming and hawing I found myself overwhelmed with a beckoning to jump. Jump even if its stupid. Jump even if you're shivering all the way to Girl Guides. Jump even if you may regret it afterwards, but just jump. The next thing I knew I was in Pennys buying a swimsuit and towel, since I didn't have time to go back to my apartment, and heading to Salthill. The walk was much much longer than I remembered and it felt as if we would never arrive. Once I finally got there I was greeted by my friends who were ready to take the plunge. The water was shallow so we weren't sure if we could jump off the high platform and as we were jumping off the lower platform, an Irish boy jumped right off the top and we knew we had to be next. The platform looked high from a far but once you got up and looked off the edge, the height seemed to double. How was I going to be able to jump? It was too high, I was too scared. But the thing is, everything in life that is truly worth doing is scary, falling in love, getting out of your comfort zone and taking risks all include taking a leap of faith with the hope that something catches you. What if I hadn't studied abroad because I was too afraid of the unknown? How many wonderful experience would I have missed if I had stayed on the platform? It was my turn to jump. Everyone on the platform was counting me off. 3...2...1 and off I went. My heart willed my legs to move fast before my brain could tell them to stop and there I was, flying in the air into the Galway Bay. I was falling for quite some time and screamed louder as I realized I had not hit the water yet and to my relief, I was finally met with freezing cold water. All I could do was smile and laugh. I did it. I didn't think, I just jumped. There is a lot I have to be proud of this semester. All of the things I accomplished, the risks I took and the challenges I met could be encapsulated into that one giant leap into the Galway Bay. |
AuthorI'm Angelisa. I am studying at NUI Galway for the semester and writing about my experience. Archives
June 2017
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