Global Health: A journey to better understand the impact of locations on communities health

My trip to Antigua was life changing and reaffirmed that healthcare is where I should be. I was not entirely sure what to expect because our program provider had never led a healthcare related trip before, but I was so impressed with every aspect of the trip: the activities planned, the organization and the extreme effort to help us get the most out of the short time we had over our Spring break.
We were prepared to work in some sort of capacity within the community and we had a vague idea of the itinerary for each day, but what we encountered was so much more than we expected. We eased into the trip with a couple of sightseeing days and "getting to know you" activities, such as hiking and zip-lining, which really got us, a motley crue of nursing students from various classes, communicating, laughing and much more comfortable.
Once our work week started we had a very structured schedule that included tours of local hospitals and clinics, attending lectures on local healthcare, assisting in passing out fresh fruit and vegetables to poor communities, teaching school-aged children about hand hygiene and dental health and, my favorite, two days of a mobile clinic. The mobile clinic gave me an experience that I had not had previously. It forced us to communicate and work through language barriers and gave us the opportunity to assess local communities and see what issues affected them on a daily basis. Although we were exhausted, the trip had plenty of fun and relaxing times too. We ate delicious local food, both provided by our host family or out on the town, we hiked an active volcano, an important and beautiful experience and we explored the town through our morning jogs.
I went on the trip believing that I would really enjoy working as a nurse internationally, but I walked away with the confidence that that career needs. I was so comfortable, adventurous and excited with every activity on the trip. Great, great job.
Since we were the maiden voyage, there were snags with being unprepared, such as a lack of certain supplies (gloves, masks, etc) but our trip allowed the next years participants to be better prepared.
Antigua felt like a home away from home and I made life-long friends on my trip: I would go again in a heartbeat (and there is talk among my group of doing just that!).