Rising senior, Madeleine Munn (2019), reflects on her day of travel to Belize!

I am writing to you all from Belize- we are safe, sound, and exhausted.  We all gathered at the Norfolk airport a 5:00 this morning, yet after two seamless flights, a layover in Atlanta, customs questions, and fearless leadership by our leader of the day- James B. Hood (2019)- we landed in Belize City before noon.

We then went from plane to car, met our GPSA team leaders, Gabi and Kirsten, and drove west toward San Antonio. On the way we stopped for lunch with watermelon or lime juice (I chose lime. No regrets). We got back in the car after lunch and rode the rest of the way. Once we got to San Antonio we met our honesty families and got our belongings settled. Side note: how amazing is it that these families are opening up their homes to total strangers for a week? It’s unbelievable and we are lucky beyond measure. We gathered together as a group in the community  center with Gabi, Kirsten, and our coordinator Andrea. These GPSA staff members went over rules, safety regulations, and behavioral expectations. They taught us lessons about patient care, ethics, conduct in the field, handwashing, plus some useful Spanish phrases we will need. Informative, helpful, and we truly saw all of our preparation come full circle. We ended with our reflection time- roses and thorns, positives and delta’s for the group, and positives and delta’s for James as our leader of the day. We returned to our homestays for dinner and early bedtime. Ella, Ms. Nas,  and I had a delicious dinner fawning over an adorable baby- what more do you need? We are drinking lots of water and loving where we are.