Get uncomfortable!!

I took a gap year, because I felt like I was living in a bubble: a bubble of privilege shielding me from the real world. Thinking Beyond Borders forced me to step outside of myself, my community and my home country, and turn my eyes to the most pressing issues of our time. I learned the real side of how complicated development work really is rather than just completing some band-aid service project that ultimately served me, not the people I am trying to help. Traveling with eighteen of my best friends was an incredible experience that I wish I could do again! Living in home-stays reminded me of the innate humanness we all share and the ways we communicate without words. Nights sitting in silence, eating noodles, making hand gestures, and sharing photographs with my Chinese host mother, are my most precious. Every work project provides an opportunity to gain a glimpse of the authentic struggles and joys that people face on a daily basis.Thinking Beyond Borders enables students to gain a comprehensive outlook on the world and a new perspective, that will undoubtedly shape their college life and beyond. Every belief I had prior to the experience was shaken and reaffirmed, making me a stronger, more informed, agent for change. Thinking Beyond Borders has been one of the most challenging and best experiences of my life.

I am now a student at Dartmouth College and feel that I would not have been as intellectually motivated or emotionally capable to be as successful as I have been, without my TBB experience.