I expected this trip to impose a lasting change on me, but now I feel that this trip to Nicaragua has changed me in ways I never could have imagined. Experiencing the poverty first hand during the home stay and having my perception of the United States change dramatically have been very transformational experiences.
Something that I really liked during this trip, which did not really happen when I studied abroad in Argentina, was that we got to interact with kids a lot in Nicaragua. I feel that this truly humanizes the experience and helps motivate one to want to make a difference in a country like Nicaragua. From the kids I met during the home stay, to the school in the Nueva Vida community and the kids in the school on the coffee farm, it was hopeful to see so many happy kids. A lot of times these experiences came as surprises as many of us did not realize that we would be meeting kids on a given day. It was a lot of fun getting to know the kids during the home stay, and I hope that I can one day possibly be reunited with them. I particularly liked meeting the kids on the coffee farm, because they prepared something to sing for us and then asked us to sing for them. We were not expecting this and so we all felt scrambled for a moment but then we decided to sing Carmen Ohio for the kids. This was honestly one of my favorite moments from the trip because I have found that a lot of times on study abroad trips, it is easy to separate the experience from your college experience in the moment. This is because what you’re doing during study abroad is so different even when there is a class element to it. Also because a lot of the time you are meeting the people on your trip for the first time and so you do not always have it in mind that you all go to the same college. However, singing Carmen for the kids made me feel like I was back at Ohio State and really helped connect the two experiences for me because I felt that this was a unique Ohio State experience in that moment.
Interacting with all this kids and seeing kids in more extreme scenarios such as in hospitals made me realize that many of the kids in Nicaragua have to deal with things in their country that adults in the United States may never have to experience. It is scary to think about how different that reality is. We had a few talks the last couple of days on what we would take with us when we got back to the United States. I feel that a big thing for me is to constantly keep in mind what I saw and the actual state of the world. It is easy to get lost in your own country’s reality and feel that it is the only reality. The truth, however, is that much of the world lives in the conditions that Nicaraguans do or in even worse conditions. I do not understand how a country like the United States which has so much “power” and so many resources can allow these things to go on and even allow them in its own country. I realize that solutions to these problems are not easy, but what I have really learned on this trip is that the culture in the United States is to want more and more and at many times at the expense of other peoples’ rights; especially people who do not live in the United States. So I understand that solutions will take time and a lot of effort, but it has to begin with the realization that greed will not take us to a good place and that we honestly do not need everything that we actually just want. This experience will leave an impact on me for the rest of my life and it makes me so grateful that I decided to study abroad a second time and that I chose this program. I hope that I can one day return to Nicaragua and that when I do, I return to a Nicaragua that has had more of its needs met.
