Service In Santo Domingo

This program brought some of the best weeks of my life.
I was deeply well prepared by an educational program CIEE has you take before attending the program and got to know the people in my group really well.
There was a great balance between volunteer work time, tourist activities, and social time planned for each us all.
My host family was very kind, the maid always helped clean our rooms so that made life 10X better, and we always had breakfast, lunch, and dinner prepared it was always beyond delicious.
We would usually spend the morning in service, and then do something related to tourism or exploring the area in the afternoon, or take Spanish classes.
We went to a local school to play sports with kids, and really just have fun with them. It was really interesting to see differences in countries with the school system.
The best part of the trip was the three - day excursion where we went to kind of a resort like area and we had our own cabin rooms that were super beautiful. We had little waterfall pools by us all and there were horses everywhere! We got to go hiking, and see an area that Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed at. We got to help plant trees and chill at the beautiful beach. I remember going to places with little mini tiki huts, and hammocks, it was absolutely beautiful.
The trip was so fun, helping the kids out and playing with them was beyond an adventure, and I remember how I learned so much more about the world just by being in a different country. It was an absolute gift and an experience I'll never forget.
If you're looking to volunteer, grow, learn more about the world, life, and meet incredible people looking for more experiences, I 10/10 reccomend.
This was an amazing experience in my life that I am beyond grateful for, and I hope that you get to experience this too.
Post program, I was more driven to travel in the future because I now know how beautiful, fun, and fulfilling it can be. I now value a lot of things that are in the US that many countries don't have like AC in most buildings, and clean drinking water.
Some useful tips if you decide to go
1) Don't come in with expectations and be prepared for a whole different way of living
2) Sometimes the showers only have cold water
3) Their are A LOT of bugs in Santo Domingo
4) Be prepared to be around people a lot and try your best to socialize to have a fuller experience
5) If you try everything, you won't regret it! You have to get out of your comfort zone or else you're not going to be truly happy
6) Things on this trip WILL NOT GO perfect. If you complain, you'll only make it worse. If you accept it, and do what you can about the situation than life will be 10X better for you
7) Allow yourself to have more fun on this trip!!