Hey Friends and Family!!
Its been a long time since I last posted, but many of you have been asking to hear more about my amazing and life-changing trip that I took to El Salvador (and Guatemala) in January, so I thought this would be a great way to fill you in on everything I was fortunate enough to experience while I was away.
This has been an amazing year with many fabulous opportunities and exciting challenges for me, and this trip was definitely one of those experiences that tops my list. I found out that I would be going to El Salvador in October after I applied for the Service Break Experience offered by Villanova. Villanova sends students on service oriented trips during the fall, winter and spring breaks, for anywhere from one to two weeks. In the fall and spring, most of the trips are domestic, but in the winter they always go to international locations since the time span is a bit longer. This year, they offered trips to Ecuador and El Salvador, and since I am a Spanish major and had never gone on one of these trips before (everyone at school says that these trips are a must-do for anyone who goes to Villanova) I thought I would apply since I am a senior and this was my last shot!
When I found out that I had been accepted to go on the El Salvador trip I was ecstatic - but looking back now I realize I had no idea what I was about to get myself into. I went with a group of 13 other students (and one graduate student), and the purpose of our trip was to do community service work in various suburbs of San Salvador (the capital city of El Salvador) through an organization called Project FIAT, which stands for Faith in Action Together. We would be building houses and schools and community centers, giving donations to the people there, and doing community building. Our group met several times throughout the fall to prepare for the trip, but no amount of meetings would have prepared us for what we experienced when we got there.
Over the next few days and weeks I will post excerpts from the journal I kept while on the trip as well as pictures I took while I was there. I will also attempt to offer other thoughts and insight into the experience that have occurred to me since my return. I hope I will be able to convey to you how amazing and life-changing this experience has been for me.
Enjoy!
Julia Marie
