Personal Narrative: My Trip Of Colombia

The classic saying, “There’s always someone who has it worse than you” (Shaggy- Keepin’ it Real), didn’t come true to me until I had first-hand experience. As a child, I grew up in the lower middle class. So I wasn’t rich nor super poor. My mother came to the United States from El Salvador in the 1980’s. She has never taken my brother and me to her home country.

As I stepped out of the airport, followed by my family, I was unprepared for the snowfall and icy pavement that is so commonplace in January in Michigan. If I had thought enough about it, I would have worn winter boots on the plane and maybe brought my puffy white coat to block the wind. Instead, I stood shivering in brand new, pink ballet-flat shoes, while snowflakes filled my eyelashes.

It's significant to me because when I went with my family to Cartagena, I was 7 years old. it was the first time I was going on a trip outside of the United States. when we got to Cartagena I was amazed by how beautiful everything is, and I was shocked with how different it was from back home. The differences I saw sparked a curiosity in me, that I never knew existed. from that moment I fell in love with learning about different places around the world and the culture that comes with that place. the trip to Cartagena was also the first time I got to see some of my family members. I have always lived in Florida and only knew about the family members I had in South America through what my parents would say about them. When we arrived to South

Imagine a time where you were at your lowest, a time in your life that nothing seemed to make

My family and I left for Panama city, Florida in June of 2011. The trip was so fun; we sang songs and laughed hysterically during the whole ride there. When we arrived we were all ready for the beach warm sand and it’s cool waves. We stayed at the beach until about nine and everyone prepared for dinner. Once everyone settled in we sat and ate dinner, as always the dinner was great with my family. Everyone talked about any and everything; we even cracked jokes on each other.

When people think of gifts, they often think of something they have received from Christmas or from a birthday. One of the most special gifts I have ever received was not from a holiday or for a birthday. My most prized gift was from two little girls, Alexandria and Tatianna, in a different country. When I went to the Dominican Republic with a big group of people for a mission trip, I received three colorful bracelets from two of the sweetest girls a few days before we traveled home. These bracelets were my most prized gift for many reasons.

This past summer I took a trip to the Dominican Republic. I spent two weeks in a small town called Bayahibe. I went with a group of sixteen people and all of the others were learning spanish in school. I had no prior knowledge of spanish, so I had trouble communicating with the locals. I felt most left out when we took a break from our marine service and held a summer camp for a day. I tried my best to communicate with the kids but I had only been there for a week and had not gotten used to the accent or the language. The children migrated towards the others in my group who spoke spanish. I responded by using clapping, high fiving and hugs while we played games to show the children that they were doing great instead of trying to speak spanish.

"Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time" - Marian Wright Edelman. To serve others is to minister and help others in various ways; it is not an act to do for show or publicity, but simply to enrich and help the lives of others and your own life. Everyone can serve one another in some form or fashion without even realizing the impact. Over my high school and college career, I have volunteered for a multitude of community service projects, ranging from mission trips, to serving the local HESED house children. Although, out of all of these projects, the one that leaves a lasting impact to me was the mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

I was always careless about all of my valuables,that was until they were all gone. It was Christmas vacation of 2011 and my mom was planning a flight to go to Dominican Republic to escape the cold Boston weather. My mother could only pick between me and my sister to go with her and naturally she chose my sister. She was probably still mad at me for times she has bought me electronics and video games that i don’t even touch anymore. I wanted to stay home by myself while they were away but she practically forced me to go to New York where my dad lives. I wasn't against the idea of seeing my dad I just didn't want to go a state where he was the only person I knew. But it was already decided so I got my stuff ready and got ready to leave and left in a transportation bus to New York. When I arrived there my dad was waiting for me in front of the apartment that he lived. Before even entering in his house his took me out to eat.I didn’t even have time to unpack. About the time we were eating my mom and my sister were arriving to Dominican Republic. After me and my dad finished eating he asked me

Trying to find memories is like looking for treasure. You look at the surface and see something mediocre, but you dig deep and find something cool, pretty, and meaningful. It took a while to think of a fond memory, but once I thought of some, it was hard to choose a favorite. Growing up I have had many great experiences in the form of vacations. Between going to Disney World, owning a vacation home, hanging out with my grandparents in Arizona, traveling to Canada and more. They all make amazing memories that I will forever cherish. The vacation spot we go to the most, though, is Wisconsin Dells. A few times I have been allowed to invite friends to come with. When I am allowed to bring friends, it is always a ginormous amount of fun. We goof off in the hotel room, play in the arcades, and swim in the water parks.

The past two semesters have been difficult for me. Around the end of October my mother travelled to her native country, El Salvador, to be there supporting my aunt through her eye surgery. It had been 20 years since my mother had visited her country and seen my older brother she left back in El Salvador. Three days into her trip my mother got really bad of health, she had fainted in shock and would not eat nor drink anything. Later on she was hospitalized in a hospital; the doctor stated that she could not come back by herself. I, as her daughter, was the designated person to go pick her up. Before leaving I indicated to my professors that I had a family emergency and that I would be traveling out of the country. So I traveled to El Salvador

Thumb: In February, 2015 my family and I went on a road trip to Mexico. The drive there took about 3 days (with stops included) on our way there we passed by a couple states. My least favorite state that we passed by was Arizona. It was my least favorite because it was super hot and the only thing I saw was desert land and tumbleweeds, it looked like a scene of an old western movie the whole drive through there. I liked passing by New Mexico because we stopped at a really cool huge truck stop store place that had a bunch of souvenirs to look at and it had a little room of arcade games that me and my brother got to play on. When we went into mexico the first thing I noticed was the instant change of smell. When we rolled down the windows it smelled like a mixture of homemade tortillas and what it smells

I had experienced to travel Southern States of America when I was getting my master degree. During that time, my friends and I went to Florida and New Orleans to visit famous places there.

“What is that horrid smell”? I had just landed in San Jose, Costa Rica with my church group, and before we could admire the beauties of this new place, we were greeted with the most pungent stench of our lives. It was day one of a two week mission trip, and we were already nose deep in one of the most poverty stricken areas in Central America. For the vast majority of the group, it was the first time getting to experience a new country in an authentic way; living among some of the least wealthy people in Costa Rica. The goal of our mission was to rebuild the church’s gate as the slum it was situated in is one of the most dangerous slums in the country. In addition, the pastor of the church we were staying in had a special request to our group.

My first visit to Columbia was for a softball camp and, while I was excited to be in New York City, I really did not get to see much of the campus. My second trip to Columbia, I was eager to get a tour of the school and shadow a current softball player to class. Unfortunately, after arriving in New York, a snowstorm hit the city. The campus was snowed in the next day and classes, as well as my much anticipated tour, were canceled. Luckily for me, several softball players pitched in and gave my parents and me an informal tour around campus, snow storm and all. While on the tour, we ended up on the steps of Low Library where a snowball fight was underway. Students were laughing and snowballs were flying with everyone seeming to enjoy a