“Life is not the number of breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.” Whether the breath taking moments are in a good way or in a more physical way (like heavy panting from carrying many heavy things down very slippery hills), that is what life is all about. This quotation seems perfect to describe our course thus far as life is not about how long you live, but the experiences you have. And I can say with certainty that this is an experience.
Life is about learning and growing through pain and experiences in which we find emotion and passion. This course has thus far given us all these things- it has been in some ways difficult. I was at first home sick, some of us were physically sick, and all of us were physically tired from hard work, but it has taught us to be stronger as a group and to lean on each other. We have been immersed in the culture of Gredal for the past three days and it has given us an incredible experience- to be able to immerse ourselves in an indigenous community so completely that we were able to understand more thoroughly who they are. We were able to play with the local children and share our cultures. This experience is once in a lifetime and at dinner tonight, as we spent a long time reminiscing about the community, we realized how sad we were to leave them knowing we will probably never see them again.
To me this course has given me the passion to want to experience more in life as I now see how much you can learn through actually doing. Personally I look forward to the moments in life that are like a slippery hill- not knowing if I will fall or not. Where even if I do fall, I get a little muddy, change a little bit, but get up a stronger person. This course has been a long muddy hill so far and I have fallen a few times, but I am glad that I have. I look forward to continuing this incredible experience and look forward to seeing what the inevitable hills on this trip have taught me.