Nica 2014

This was my first trip with GIVE as well as my first trip outside of the United States. At first, I was a little cautious about traveling by myself, but the minute I landed, met the other volunteers and guides, I felt at home. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly, I never got homesick. I will say, I was originally intrigued by this trip with the desire to sandboard down a volcano, but that was just a bonus from what I took away from the entire trip.

We had the chance to help out with their first project, the bottle school in Jiquilillo. I then traveled to Little Corn Island where I spent the next couple weeks with the SCUBA program. Although, I did not participate in scuba diving, I worked on a project with GIVE, portraying the collection of data from past groups, to visually represent the work the past GIVE volunteers have done. You could actually see the growth of the marine life around the corals and reefs. Truly gratifying to be a part of this organization. (Spoiler: it inspired me to go on another GIVE trip.) This trip really allowed me to step out of my comfort zone.