Global Glimpse

Traveling to Juan Dolió was an experience that I will never forget. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I thank my summer program for giving me this opportunity. I was able to be immersed in the Dominican culture and learn about their life style here. I learned about the unfair treatment that many workers go through just to provide for their family. I was able to make a change and help build community homes and bathrooms for the local communities. It was such an amazing experience and where I was able to see my privilege compared to how the children over there are living. I would highly recommend going on one of these trips so that you are able to experience something wonderful as I did.

I had an amazing time during my trip to Panama! It was a bit nerve-racking at first, considering it was a new experience and many of us were stepping outside of our comfort zone. But once we got into the flow of things I had an absolute blast and I got to meet so many cool people.

During the course of our 2-week trip we went on so many adventures and learned so much about Panamanian culture. We did everything from museums to goat farms. Luckily, we went at the perfect time and were even able to catch street parades celebrating Viva Santa Librada right outside our hotel!

On top of all of our great adventures we got to practice our leadership skills as ‘lider del dia’ which translates to leader of the day. As leader of the day, you got to step up and take care of your group, which made us feel more like a family rather than a bunch of students. As we all know, families face a bit of hardships. Our hardships were particularly with our hotel… Some students dealt with mold in the shower and my personal experience was both mold and bed bugs. I wish our country managers were a bit more helpful when handling the situation. I know we felt as if our issue was sorta swept under the rug but that's not everybody's experience.

With that being said, I would definitely recommend bringing shower sandals, an extra set of pajamas, bug spray, and your own little travel blanket. I noticed a lot of students also brought portable fans, so I’d suggest investing in one of those too if you tend to run a bit hot along with sunscreen. Andddd the most important item of all, an open mind. Keeping an open mind will make the experience much more enjoyable. Just live in the moment, enjoy the nature + scenery, and go with the flow!

(P.S. Don't be afraid to speak up and voice concerns, if you have any. You got this! Hope this was helpful and happy traveling!)

The leaderships that my PC’s has and leaders were amazing. They always made sure that we was always okay and that we were always happy. My leaders were always taking good responsibility of us and we trusted them to talk to them about anything. Being on this trip we didn’t really lacked anything. We always had something to do and I loved being with all these amazing kids. We all was able to be leaders throughout the trip and knowing each other through it. Leadership was something that really made my mind stand out bc leadership is what is needed in life.

Without a doubt one of the most powerful experiences of my life. I was nervous joining the program at first, but because of all of its praise I decided to commit and I’m so grateful I did. Global Glimpse does an incredible job at pushing glimpses out of their comfort zones so they may grow but also creates a really fun experience overall - all of this while getting to see the world and meet new people.

Something very notable is that the program is very authentic. They create a perfect balance of work and fun to make a worthwhile experience something you can actually enjoy. They speak a lot about being outside of your comfort zone and because of all of their encouragement (from home staff members, staff in Panama, zoom meetings, etc…) I was willing to take that extra step. I found that coming back from the program I am now more willing to work with others and come up with genuine solutions to problems. It has greatly lessened my fear of making my voice heard and now I want to do what I can to lead and make a positive difference around me. I seek out opportunity to be a leader rather than avoid it.

All of that happened practically under my nose though because I was having a blast the whole time. I got to see a place I’ve never been to before, eat new foods, see great views of the land and meet amazing new people. Your peers are cooperative and genuinely want to connect with you, and the staff members are some of the most supportive people I’ve ever met in my life. I was having so much fun that I was almost SAD to not wake up at 6 AM cuz that would mean my day wouldn’t feel as long.

Personally the most impactful part of the whole trip for me was community day (even though going to the beach with all my new friends was awesome). We got to go into a community I likely would have never otherwise known and speak to their members and see what their life is like. I love practicing languages so this opportunity definitely has a space in my heart specifically but other than that I learned how inviting and constructive everyone in their community is. Everyone knows each other and they work together to complete projects for the benefit of the town (i.e. a bridge crossing a stream). It increased my scope of the world and now encourages me to speak to others around me and see how other communities may be different from my own.

Of course I need to talk about the Community Action Project as well. We all met up with the leaders of a community (a primary school) and worked together to discover a way to improve their community as a whole. We ended up deciding upon constructing a recycling center nearby the basketball court of the school. Despite the fear I had for it, I ended loving doing my part in working for the improvement of this community and am proud of the piece of myself that I added to the project. It built my sense of empathy and it made me think what I could do at home to make MY community a better place. I’m so grateful for the work that we all did and I really believe it’s helped the lives of the kids at the school.

Some tips that I’d leave:
Definitely bring an alarm clock - You don’t have your phones (scary at first but I ended up loving it) and you’ll want to control when you wake up.

Bring a journal - you have so many experiences you don’t wanna miss the little ones

Lots and lots of water. - Panama is a hot place it’s practically on the equator. Your body will be adjusting and if you don’t want to be in bed sick while all your friends are trying plantains and pineapple juice while building a recycling center for a primary school.

Overall global glimpse has permanently impacted my life in the best way possible and it is something I will never forget. It expanded who I am as a person in ways I didn’t even know were possible and it was probably the most fun experience of my life. I CANNOT stress enough how much I recommend this trip. If you’ve been on the fence about it, I sincerely hope this has possibly pushed you over the edge.

How can I put my experience into words? To the facilities, to my friends, to the staff they truly are one of a kind. I really did not have a bad experience on this trip. Every single day taught me a valuable lesson in which I hope will remain with me in my future endeavors. I was able to witness the citizens experience life which truly struck a cord with me. On the last couple of days were spent on elementary school as we helped them make a better learning environment. How can I not recommend this experience to anybody else as it shaped who I am. I was nervous when I first applied to Global Glimpse but now I realize there was no need. The experience pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me more confident in who I am. I have recommended this to everybody I know who is younger than me. So I recommend anyone who comes across this program to participate.