Program Reviews

While on my trip in Costa Rica with Global Works, I had the time of my life. The hardest part for me was feeling comfortable with my group because many of the kids came with friends. I can be shy anyways, but it was a great learning experience and it has made me more outgoing. By the end of the trip, our group was very close and it was sad to see everyone go.

I loved all of the language games we played and I have since decided to major in Spanish and use it in my daily life in the future.

I really liked this trip because it gave the perfect balance of service work, adventure time, and relaxation, all while creating lasting relationships with my group members and the Panamanian people and experiencing things I would never have had the opportunity to do otherwise. Of course it was scary at first, but this trip is also great because of the challenge it poses; to step outside a normal comfort zone and learn from the all geographically, socially, culturally, and intellectually different aspects. Each day we would wake up relatively early, but nothing crazy, for there was work to be done. We would start our day with breakfast and prepping for whatever project or adventure we would be doing, which we usually knew about the night before anyway. It was a really well organized trip but also flexible to the weather, attitudes, and varying aspects that influenced our plans. The most exciting part was definitely the week on the San Blas islands because it was where we really formed close relationships with our group members, while being in such a breathtaking environment with the truly welcoming and influential Kuna Yala people. Being on the islands was definitely a challenge because we were living in a more primitive area, but that's the whole point. We really had to live in the moment and be grateful for our lives at home and appreciate the differences between our cultures, yet the fact that they were happy in a different way. We helped them through our daily service projects, while they helped us step outside ourselves and learn about an amazing lifestyle. Being on the islands was definitely most influential because it was the first time we really were interacting with the people and using our Spanish speaking skills, which was really overwhelming at first. I found myself trying to be outgoing and start conversation, but getting really discouraged by my lack of fluidity and my shyness. However, I talked with my friends in the group and almost everyone had similar fears and set backs, but we kept trying and realized that was part of the experience. Soon I was able to forget the bad feelings and really put myself out there and have great conversations and just learn a lot about myself and the people. The homestay started off being slightly scary because after a week of becoming really great friends with our group members and always being together, we were separated and had to live with a Panamanian family where we solely relied on our Spanish speaking. However, I was with one other group member, and even though we weren't really close friends before, being put together with a family neither of us knew really forced us to work together and get to know each other, which I'm really grateful for now. In the homestay we would wake up every morning, eat breakfast, report to "la cancha" or the court where the entire group met, do service work in various areas of the town, break for lunch, come back and continue our projects. We also had days where we would work all day and play soccer with the locals after, or work half a day and play games at la cancha or have the day with our families, or explore the local forests. While this is where we did the majority of our service work, it was nothing too grueling and we could really see the beneficial impact of our work, and we still had plenty of time to explore and relax. One thing to be aware of is how we had to adapt to our homestay life. In Santa Fe, they wake up really early in the morning, like 4, and go to bed at the latest around 9, typically. However, the group members usually woke around 7, had to report to la cancha around 8, and went to bed by 8. It was actually quite nice. Also, the Panamanian family rarely ate meals with us; I'm still not sure why but I think that's pretty normal to not all eat together there. After the homestay we headed to the beach and had an amazing time soaking up the sun and learning how to surf. Not everyone liked the surfing, but everyone tried and it was so cool. I really felt I was living the dream getting to be there. Global works was great overall because not only did the find these great opportunities for the trip to go on, but they were really organized and really aware of what we needed as a group. We had lots of individual medical check-ins and lots of group activities after our day to see where everyone was emotionally, how to make things better, what we had learned, etc. Some of these activities were honestly kind of corny and annoying but in retrospect make a lot of sense. Three weeks seems like a long time the first couple of days, but after week one I never wanted to leave, week two I felt slightly homesick but knew my time was running out, and week three was definitely ready to go home, even though I didn't really want to leave. It was really just a great trip and there are only a few things I would change, but that's mostly personal in how I handled things, not global works. I would do anything to be back there!

it was my first time ever leaving the country and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Staying with the Fijians in the Nativi village was such a cultural immersion. Favorite parts were definitely hiking with the natives, chewing on sugar cane, cracking open coconuts, and doing the community service with the older men.

During the reliable afternoon thunderstorms of Costa Rica, the newly built beneficios, an elevated wooden room that oversees the town’s coffee processing plants, was our official work station. But outside the beneficios was an even more intensive study of the culture shock. As we adapted to the masculine-dominated, agricultural society, we also had to adjust to the fact that the entire village was literally one family! In return for our dedication, the locals shared their long-standing traditions with me, a complete stranger who barely spoke any Spanish, save for a few phrases from a tourist guidebook. The exchange was not always tangible; it still baffles me that they were so willing to do so much for others without expecting anything in return. My inclination to attempt to help was largely because I felt a new connection to these people who have made me feel as if I was a part of their culture. This trip has introduced me to the boundless opportunities that await me in the field of business, and I am surprised by what I did accomplish in these short weeks. My experience in Cedral has passed, but Cedral and the memory of it live on.

Here is an essay I had to write for college, it's a great review of how the trip made me feel and the impact it had on me...

This past summer, I spent a month traveling in Costa Rica with Global Works, a community service-based adventure program for high school students. I wanted to indulge myself, experience new things, improve my Spanish, and maybe do a little volunteer work. Luckily, I found much more than that. I have participated in other teen tours, but I never came away from a trip feeling like I did after this one.

While in Cuipilapa, a small village in the Guanacaste region, we worked every single day, from early light until dark, on the community center building. We cleaned and swept the floors, scraped rust from the fencing along the outside of the building, and sanded 40 tables and 65 chairs. We painted the entire inside and outside of the center. As we worked, the village children would gather around us, giggling while trying to communicate to us in the little English they knew, while we responded back in what we thought was our impeccable, surely unaccented Spanish. After a while, the children didn’t just watch. Seeing us hard at work influenced them to help, too, taking pride and ownership in fixing up their community. I had similar experiences during the other projects our group worked on, such as when we dug up wet mud in the rainforest to clear a 1.5-mile path to a breathtaking waterfall.

Although I spent hours working to improve the 3 different areas we visited in Costa Rica, I had the most transforming experience during my homestay with the Fonseca Family. The Fonseca Family has lived in their small village of 100 inhabitants for their entire lives. The Fonsecas felt themselves very fortunate because they were the only family with a TV, despite the fact that it only offered one channel! To me, their house felt like a mansion because of the things it was filled with: laughter, love for one another, and happiness. But what really floored me was how they welcomed me into their home and into their lives. They had no knowledge of my life at home, how much money or status my family may or may not have, what my reputation might be, what my school and town are like, or how good or bad my grades are. No idea, and they didn’t care. All they knew about me was what I brought from home – myself. I had my smile, my valiant efforts to speak their language, and my willingness to throw myself into their lives. At dinner, they constantly offered me food, wanting to be sure I had enough; at bedtime, they brought blanket upon blanket, to make sure I was comfortable. This sense of acceptance, purely for who I was on my own, without my friends, my family, and the trappings of my life at home, taught me that I didn’t need a warm shower, fancy clothes, or a flat screen TV. I only need myself, and people whom I care about and who care about me.

I have noticed that people in other countries seem to be happier than people in the US. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but while I was in Costa Rica, it was one of the happiest times of my life. Perhaps it was because I chose to engage rather than just pass through, connecting with people and having an impact on the community, rather than being a tourist or visitor. Perhaps it was the simple lifestyle, the ability to feel rich without having a lot of material things. Life occurs at a slower pace, friends and family spend time together rather than on their cell phones, and people choose to see the positive, rather than the negative, in others. Most likely, however, it was the experience of connecting with my own self, seeing what makes me happy, what I am capable of, and the kind of person I want to be.

On my last night with the Fonseca Family, we trudged through the rainforest, collecting our ingredients for that night’s dinner. We found vegetables of all kinds, sugar cane, and even medicines from fresh plants. As we prepared the meal, I found myself standing together with mother Rosa, rather than sitting outside with my friends. We shared just the occasional word or two, communicating in other ways, as we fried fresh banana chips and created a lasting masterpiece in my memory.
...to include all the amazing detail I had to combine a few things like the homestay and one of the rainforest trips, but it doesn't take away from the truly amazing experience I had, which I at least think is very apparent in this essay.

Every day I got to wake up in a real Peruvian house and really see what day to day life was like. I could see the types of things that I might not have seen if I was just a tourist. I got to see my homestay family's jobs and even play with the kids. also I got to see some of the hardships that families in 3rd world countries go through. The entire trip as a whole was eye opening and I am very thankful for being able to go on such a trip, and am looking forward to Panama next summer.

The trip was overall a really, really great experience. Besides the food being unbelievable (especially at the hostel in les Alpes), the overall atmosphere was really cool. We had people of all different levels of french speaking ability, which was felt a little paralyzing at times but overall didn't infere. My home stay family could not have been a better fit for me. The first words out of their mouths were "make yourselves feel at home" (but in french of course), and were excellent cooks. I loved living with them, 10 days flew by! The little excursions we went on with the whole group when switching locations were some of the most fun for me. Briançon was probably my favorite; it was the most authentic French town I'd been in with far less tourism than the other towns we'd been in. It was quaint and adorable. Overall, I have nothing but positive memories from this trip.

When I signed up for this trip, I was not exactly sure what to expect. Traveling so far away from home with a group of strangers seemed exciting yet a bit scary. As it turned out, signing up for this trip was, in my opinion, the best decision I have ever made. Even during the first hour of our trip, our group was already having a great time getting to know each other while playing card games in the airport. When we arrived in Costa Rica, we immediately established group and personal goals for the trip, focusing on developing our language skills and dedicating a lot of time and effort to community projects in Santa Cruz. During these days of orientation, our three group leaders were very instrumental in helping us all bond as a group. Right after we arrived, we started eating the typical Costa Rican cuisine of rice and beans, which took a few days to get used to, but was a very important part of being immersed into the culture (and it is delicious too!). Rafting was quite an adventure and helped develop our friendships with each other and instill a sense of appreciation for nature in us. When we arrived at the home stay, we were all very anxious, some of more scared or excited than others. Being able to communicate only in Spanish wasn't very easy the first day, but by the end of the week, I would sometimes be speaking in Spanish without realizing it! The home stay in Santa Cruz was truly amazing because I felt like part of another family for a week. My home stay mother did everything she could to make sure we were enjoying our stay, and she did a wonderful job. The service project building the sidewalk during the day was so meaningful because we knew that it would benefit our wonderful Costa Rican families and it also provided some hilarious times for our group (my personal favorite being our singing and dancing while working!). Overall, I had an incredible experience. Our guides were responsible and also fun so we could relate to them but also rely on them for help if needed. The main lesson I learned would be that developing personal relationships by talking to people rather than relying on technology all the time is very important and it is the mindset I have taken coming back to the U.S. I LOVED this trip and I still talk to my friends that went with me every single day. I consider them a second family to me, and I have formed friendships that will last for years to come. I would do anything in my power to go on this trip again, it is well worth it!!

Getting to go to a foreign country alone is always fun. I loved how the group was really small (5 boys 5 girls), so we really got to bond with the other members and the staff. The best part was definitely the homestay and getting to ski. Over the summer my spanish improved, but I did lose most of it once I got back to school. Overall though, it was extremely fun.

I have traveled with multiple companies and no program has been as good as Global Works. The leaders were kind, supportive, and excellent mentors, the experiences offered were profound and the service actually made a difference. The confidence and perspective that I gained are still a huge part of my life today. On a trip so well structured and beautifully crafted, you can't help learning something about yourself and the world. I would recommend this trip to anyone and everyone, because they really do travel, safety, learning, and adventure incredibly well. I hold Global Works in the highest regard.