Wow, it has been a long time, and I have so much to say. The semester ended with me continuing my bad study habits…which ultimately did hurt me, but not enough for me to be sad about it. I had too much fun to regret an A- or two. Christmas break was long, as usual, but it was nice to be home with the family for a bit before returning back to good old Scranton. From the title of my blog, I guess you can tell what I am going to talk about…yup, my service trip to Alaska.
Our group had to meet at the Avoca airport at 4:45 AM. I thought I had gotten rid of the early mornings when I handed over the captainship to Kak, but no, there I was, waking up at 4:15. Our group was amazing. Our chaperone, who we nicknames Babs had a lot to handle with us, but all in all, I think she enjoyed us. Besides Babs and myself, there were five other girls on the trip: Alexandra, Sarah, Kak, Rita, and Karen. We did not really know each other very well going into the trip, but after countless hours of traveling together and sleeping one room on mattresses…we bonded a lot.
Alaska was beautiful. I can’t even describe what it was like to wake up every morning and be surrounded by spectacular mountains. Every day was breathtaking. I can’t even believe that I have been to the place that I took pictures of. Besides the beautiful scenery, the house was stayed in was also awesome. We lived with the Jesuit Volunteers while we were there, one of whom is a recent Scranton grad. It was really interesting to live with them, and learn about the way that they life (simply).
We went to different locations to perform service: A domestic violence shelter, a home for homeless children, a soup kitchen, an old people’s home, an AIDS prevention clinic, and even to mental health court. Each location was unique, and although we could find most of those types of locations in Scranton, it was really interesting to get a different perspective on each of the areas. I really enjoyed going to the old peoples home (Providence), which is really strange foe me, because usually, I am a little uncomfortable with elderly. Going into the experience, I promised myself that I would push myself to get over some of my discomforts and hopefully learn from the experience. While at Providence, I really learned how to appreciate what the elderly have to offer. It was such a rewarding experience and I am so happy that I was able to partake in it.
There’s too much to say about the trip for me to include in this blog, but if I had some advice to offer you, it would be to take advantage of all that The University of Scranton has to offer when it comes to service. Even if you are just in Scranton, the experience will be rewarding.