Our families have been an integral part of our Guatemalan experience. At first, the idea of staying and living with a family we had never met before in an entirely new country was a bit frightening for a majority of us. The cultural and language barriers seemed to be the biggest worries, but once meeting....
Guatemala: Take the Plunge
Plunging into Cultural Learning Guatemala is a paradoxical paradise. That鈥檚 what Israel Ortiz told us on the first day of orientation in the second-floor CASAS meeting room. I remember sitting in that room, full of excitement. I was ready to fully plunge into this new paradise. Three weeks later I鈥檓 panicking while clinging to a....
Guatemala: Independent Travel Week
During the week of spring break for the rest of 黑料正能量, the Guatemala intercultural students had the chance to travel in small groups around Guatemala, Belize, and El Salvador. We planned the trips ourselves and were given the opportunity to go anywhere we wanted (with the approval of our leaders, of course). Here鈥檚 a short....
Guatemala: Education
10 March 2024 Education – Investing in the future Two weeks ago our group focused on education in Guatemala. We listened to a presentation and got a tour at Casa Horeb about the school program they run called EduVida. They offer free classes for people of all ages who are looking to further their education....
Guatemala: Human Rights
Legacy of the armed conflict This week (February 18-23)聽 we focused on human rights and learned about Bishop Gerardi. He was a significant person in Guatemala who focused on uncovering the human rights violations committed by the military upon the indigenous community in the 1960s. We watched a documentary about the murder of Monsignor Gerardi....
Guatemala: Tikal y Cob谩n Reflexi贸n
23 February 2024 Our most recent trip took us north. We spent a full seven days split between the northern rainforests of Tikal and the high-altitude city of Cob谩n in Alta Vera Paz. The theme for the week was Nature & Environment, so we visited the ancient Mayan Ruins in Tikal National Park and lived....
Guatemala: Threads of Connection
9 February 2024 As part of our intercultural experience, we are taking Spanish classes for about four hours every morning through CASAS, or Central America Study and Service cultural immersion program. We are in small groups and paired up with a teacher. So far, we have learned through cooking, singing Guatemalan songs, acting out skits,....
Guatemala: Everyone Is Affected by Migration
5 February 2024 Last Saturday through Wednesday, our group had the opportunity to visit Huehuetenango and Jacaltenango, both located in the Western highlands of Guatemala. The five to six-hour drive to Huehuetenango was rough for those who get carsick easily, but beautiful as we observed tree-laden mountains and stunning volcanoes along the way. In Huehuetenango,....
Guatemala: City of Contrasts
21 January 2024 La Terminal On Wednesday, January 19 our Guatemala-Cuba Intercultural group had the opportunity to visit a place called 鈥淟a Terminal,鈥� a market in Guatemala City. There sim ply are not words to describe the poverty we saw there. I have seen and interacted with poverty in the US in both rural and....
Europe: Service projects
10/30/2023 Service Projects in Vienna During our stay in Vienna, we were each assigned a service project to go to. This took place about every other week for a couple of hours at a time. I was assigned a position at an elementary school along with three of my peers. On each visit we were....