Caroline's Reflection: I'm Still Learning...

Sitting at home doing the journals for my Belize experience is making me reminisce on everything that happened; from our crazy nights to the amazing days of service we had. I’m going to miss all of these great people who have become some of my best friends in such a short amount of time. It’s unbelievable how things happen in life and bring certain people in but I think it must all be for a reason. I really do believe there is a reason that people come into your life, not all people of course, but there are those few who you just don’t want to let go of. I found some people who I know I will be friends with for a long time. We all think we are hilarious but no one else gets our humor, we appreciate a good sunrise with a cup of coffee, we appreciate having a good time but also knowing when to get serious. It’s hard to find people you click so well with but I’m glad I found a few while on this trip.

It was interesting to be on a trip with so many people from so many different cultures and with varying experiences. I love hearing people’s perspectives on life because I’m still learning, but having friends on the trip who have had similar experiences helped me to look at all points of view and simply talking about life with people on trip made me grow as person. It’s so awesome to swap stories and get to know people on a deeper level. Several of my favorite moments on the trip happened while we were all out on beach at night after dinner, from the weird fruit to the Garifuna dancers- I really got to know most people on the trip on a more personal level rather than solely superficial, which is normal when you only know someone for 1 week. My absolute favorite memory from the trip has he be the young girl from my last day at the dental clinic will forever be stuck in my mind. She made me realize that nursing is really what I want to be doing. I want to be the one to make others feel better; I want to help people. This trip reaffirmed the fact that I’m on the right track. I’m forever grateful to Dr. Nash for sharing her insight with me and giving me all of the experience that she did. This trip was honestly one of the best weeks of my life and I will never forget anything about it. Certain memories will forever be ingrained in my head and I know I’ll be a better nurse because of my experiences.

I would 100% recommend some kind of service trip, whether it’s with school or with a church or a different organization. It’s hard to put into words but I have never been more grateful for the experiences I had and the people I met or felt more humbled than I did in Belize. The Belizian people as a whole are kind to everyone, very trusting of us to help them, unbelievable happy and grateful for what they have, and most of all they genuine. I find it hard to collectively call the people I meet at the hospitals during clinical genuine, but the Belizians were. They were authentic and sincere from how they spoke to how they treated us. It’s something that is hard to explain but that feeling you get when you see a cute puppy or see someone that you care about, that is the feeling I had the entire week while in Belize. The experience was overall absolutely one of the best weeks of my life and I am already planning another service trip to South Africa in a few months. 

Caroline Medley

College of Nursing