This trip has truly been incredible in every way. From Tykes Camp and the delicious food to the unforgettable adventures and the amazing staff, it’s been the most rewarding experience. The team that puts this trip together is made up of the most genuine, dedicated people who go above and beyond to make it exceptional. I was hesitant to sign up at first, but now that I’ve lived it, I wouldn’t trade it for anything and I would come back a thousand times over. I felt safe at every point of the trip and was smiling everyday because of the joy this place brought me.

This has been some of the best ten days of my life. Not only did I learn more than I could ever imagine, my relationships grew with my friends, I met some amazing kids and supportive and kind staff. When I woke up on the last day I could not believe it was time to go. This experience brought me valuable Occupational Therapy skills and helped me to become more confident as a future practitioner. The words that come to my mind after leaving this trip are joy, patience, and of course 2 peas in a pod. I will forever be grateful to therapy abroad and the families in Belize for welcoming me and allowing me to be a part of their lives for just a short period of time. Thank you for the laughs, smiles, and learning experiences that I will talk about for the rest of my life! Thank you to our leaders, bus driver, and hosts for guiding us and making all this possible.

I had such an amazing experience at therapy abroad in Belize. The staff not only support us and kept us safe but also treated us like one of their own. I’m so sad to leave and will miss everyone I have met along the way. The camp was such an amazing experience. The kids were amazing and their families were so supportive and appreciative. Every meal was delicious and every excursion was planned perfectly. The wide variety of food and adventures allowed me to step outside my comfort zone and fully immerse myself in the experience. I couldn’t imagine a better trip! I’d do it all again in a heartbeat!

I feel like the therapy part of this trip was a little challenging at times due to a high number of clinicians to a low number of kids. Often, the undergraduate students and graduate students would speak over each other during individual sessions which made it overwhelming when we were 3-1. I feel it would be better if there were more students to create a 2-1 ratio. I also think that how camp will be functioning (I.e., station rotations) should be determined before arriving to camp. On Sunday we spent 2 hours discussing the stations when we could have been planning. I think it would also be beneficial if the undergraduates were required to take clinical processes before attending the camp. That way, they have at least some exposure to collecting data, observing sessions, lesson planning, etc. The excursion part of the trip was great! The cave tubing and zip lining was definitely a highlight.

I think it would have been helpful to have a walk around San Ignacio. I enjoyed the kids and Ms. Patty and Erolyn. They made sure we were safe and taken care of. I also loved getting ice cream every night. I stayed at Hode’s last year and that was great. This year, there were issues with missing money; otherwise great. I wish we were 2 to a room instead of 4. Overall, I had a lot of fun.

This trip has been nothing short of amazing. The opportunities I was given, I will forever be grateful for. The staff (Erolyn and Miss Patti) have been amazing chaperones. I am so grateful for this experience as a whole. I enjoyed getting to bond with my patient at the Tykes camp and learn from the grad students above me with more experience. It was cool to be able to tap into the Belizean culture and learn way more than I could’ve imagined. I appreciate all of the staff who helped make this trip amazing all around.

It was a great experience! I gained a lot of knowledge being an undergraduate. I wish we had one extra day of free time! I also loved meeting the kiddos and the SLP that works for therapy abroad and all the knowledge she gave us. I also loved working with the graduate students to gain clinical experience. I loved having a couple of days being fun days and learning about the culture. We also had amazing food almost every lunch and dinner. I loved the supervisors that went with us everything. They were amazing!

I really liked the tykes camp, but I feel like our freedom was limited when it came too things we wanted to do within the camp and individual sessions. I also enjoyed all the excursions as well. I wish for the evaluations we had more time to prep and get things ready for this. There was not enough time and we basically went in blind with very little experience with evaluations. I also wish the number of adults was less than the kids or 1 to 1 as there was too many adults compared to the amount of kids. We should have more kids next time but overall I had so much fun and it was a great experience!