HLD Till I Die

My time in Ecuador was truly life changing. I made great friends, got to travel all over the country and make a difference in peoples lives, and I was able to gain some hands on experience in a hospital setting throughout my medical rotations. HLD does a phenominal job at sticking to the 3 words it stands for: Help, Learn and Discover. This program has managed to incorporate these three things to give students the best time of their lives whether they come for 17 days, 21 days, or 28 days. I did the 28 day program and couldn't be any happier and satisfied with my experience.

Help - this was by far my favorite part of the trip. I got to make personal connections with the locals and the community we were working with while helping them build their homes. This year was really important to me and the others I think because of the earthquake that happened months ago. It affected many communities, so volunteering and working on site meant so much more to us and the community. The work is physically demanding and fun and I wish it was longer than a week because I could spend the whole month there, but the locals were very welcoming and all of the hard work we did is really paying off and helping the program move one step closer to completing the project.

Learn - since I was in the 28 day program I got to do 2 weeks of medical rotations. The tutors were awesome and they provided us with a lot of valuable information and made sure that we were learning and enjoying all of the activities that they had planned for us. We learned how to take vitals, how to read an ECG, how to do CPR, how to stitch, how to take blood and many more things. We got to sit in on surgeries and work with patients in the emergency room. My favourite part was the fact that we were able to scrub in and watch surgeries in the operating room and ask our tutors any question that we had and they were always ready to help and explain. This part of the trip was very important for me because it really helped me find areas in the medical field that I enjoyed, which will further help me once I start applying to medical school. This part of the trip exceeded my expectations and I couldn't have imagined anything better.

Discover - This was another one of my favorite times. I really enjoyed traveling around from city to city and staying at places that I didn't even know existed. Ecuador is a beautiful country and luckily we got to see a lot of cool things. From water falls to tubing down the Napo river, hiking in the Amazon jungle, and horse backing riding to active volcanos, it truly was some of the best times of my life. The night life was always so fun and all of the hostels we stayed at were also amazing and made the experience that much better.

Taking a look back at the four weeks I spent with HLD, I can't say a single thing that I wish we had done differently. I have made life long friends on this trip and I can't express enough how much this trip changed my life. the leaders, activities, and experiences were all perfect. I think I smiled 24 hours a day on this trip! I definitely recommend it to everyone!