Category: 2013

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Day 2: Cultural Day!

Today was the actual first day of our trip, after our long journey yesterday. I was the coordinator for today’s activities and it was very exciting to get started this morning.

We slept in until about 10 a.m., which I planned for, because I assumed that people would be tired from yesterday. After a nice community breakfast of eggs and toast we went out to  the Asheville Urban Trail, and explored the city. It was very cold, rainy, and windy, so we tried to go inside as much as possible, but we got to see a lot of the historic buildings from the “Gilded Age.” After walking and driving through most of downtown, we came home and had lunch together before heading out to the Botanical Gardens. Fortunately it stopped raining, and we got to enjoy the beginnings of Spring, as the periwinkle was beginning to bloom. The gardens were a wonderful way for our group to get outside, experience some nature, and get to know each other.

After the gardens we came back into Asheville, where we visited the Woolworth Walk. The Woolworth Walk is home to artist booths, where they rent out the space. This was a very great way to really get a feel for the people of Asheville. The art was very unique, and modern. We got to speak with one of the artists, who uses beeswax to paint, and she was very friendly. I hope this is simply a preview of the rest of the Asheville community and their Southern friendliness!

After the Woolworth Walk, there was free time until dinner! We took this as a further opportunity to explore our surroundings, and check out the local shops. We went out to dinner at the Lexington Avenue Brewery, which is right underneath our hostel. It was very cute, and homey and the food had this great rustic taste. Everyone had a lovely dinner, and it was great to be out and about in the city.

After dinner we returned to our hostel, and we had our first reflection meeting. This was a time for us all to share how we hope the trip goes, and what our first impressions of Asheville are. Everyone is very excited to see the difference between this part of the city, and the disadvantaged part where the pollution of our concern is occurring. Generally we had a great first day of bonding and exposure to the city, and we’re really excited to get started with our work tomorrow!

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On our way to Hazard,Kentucky!!!!!

Started the day by meeting up with my ASB team at March Field at seven in the morning. I woke up with a great attitude knowing that our journey to Hazard, Kentucky was going to be a blast. Eleven hours went by on the road, and I experienced a whole new part of the East Coast. I saw several mountainous hillsides and many cows on the farm. We took several driving shifts, and got to know each other very well. As we got further south, I began to notice the rural poverty in the hillsides of Kentucky. I saw trailer parks, mobile houses, worn down neighborhoods and empty houses. I knew that I was in an area where rural poverty was affecting the communities and lives of people. I saw neighborhoods where there were no sidewalks on the street; houses were bunched together and had weak infrastructures. I was so unused to such sight. Everyone on our trip had the same initial reactions when seeing such communities. Once we settled down, everyone took the time to reflect on his or her car rides. We came to the agreement that we were going to work as hard as we could to help the rural poverty conditions in Hazard, Kentucky. Now that the day is over, I look forward to the next few days full of service and memorable experiences!

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Jersey Bound!

I’m so excited to get to Newark tomorrow! As this semester progressed, I’ve been anxiously waiting for spring break to come, and now it’s here. My team and I are just about ready to make our way to New Jersey in the morning.

When I first learned I was going to be a part of team NJ, I was really excited. I went to high school in the middle of a small city, and while I personally did not experience the effects of poverty, I saw it in the environment around me. However, I never did anything to learn more about it. I’m eager to better understand urban poverty on a deeper level. I want to know more.

This is my first service trip, and I’m really excited to get to know my team better and start our service! Even though we’re not leaving until tomorrow, I’m going to say goodbye for now, Lafayette! Newark, here we come!

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Pre-Trip Post

We have arrived! After an incredibly long car ride and numerous meeting talking about and planning our trip, it is finally time to put those plans into action.

I am excited to help Green Opportunities and River Alliance in their efforts to end environmental injustice. We will be assisting these groups in anyway possible. I am looking forward to work with different areas of the larger issue of “environmental injustice” through water sampling and canvassing. Also after researching the town of Asheville and the issue with our team, I am particularly excited to work with individuals who have a passion and a dedication to conquer social injustice.

It is exciting to be apart of a grassroots movement to create change in a tangible way. I can not wait to get started and to bring what I learn back to Lafayette with me. Hopefully the change we install here can inspire us to create change back on Lafayette’s campus! Who knows, huh?

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Pre-Trip Reflection

This semester has been flying by- it’s already spring break! I remember marking this trip on my calendar months ago, when it seemed impossibly far away.

I entered the program knowing virtually nothing about our topic or the town of Asheville, but I’ve learned quite a bit during our pre-trip group meetings and activities. The issue of environmental justice is and will continue to be relevant to many people’s lives, and I look forward to experiencing it hands-on. I’m definitely very excited to meet the people involved with Green Opportunities and the West North Carolina Alliance and to gain a clearer idea of exactly what our service will involve.

Last Saturday morning, our team completed pre-service by helping out in the garden at 1075 Lehigh Drive. While this was somewhat last-minute, participating in ASB-related service a week before the actual trip built up my level of anticipation for the trip. It was a great way to connect with nature, make a tangible difference, and gain perspective, especially since I had never been to the West Ward before. On that day and during the twelve-hour drive here, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know several members of the team, and I look forward to even more team bonding through reflection and throughout the trip.

After our cultural day tomorrow, service will start! This week is sure to be a cultural, educational, and fun experience :-)

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Pre-Trip Post

After a few very quick weeks our trip is finally here! I literally cannot believe how quickly this semester is passing us by!

I’m very excited to start our service, I’ve been busy planning all week for Cultural Day, which is tomorrow! I took a lot of time to plan our day so that we get exposure to all sorts of things that I hope everyone will enjoy, and I can’t wait to get started tomorrow.

In regards to our actual service I’m very excited to be working with Green Opportunities, and the River Alliance. We’re pretty much here to do whatever they need, which I believe is one of the best ways to help organizations. They often have many aspirations and sometimes simply lack the man-power to actually get things done. So we’ll be meeting the leaders of these programs, which will be very inspirational and I’m very excited to get to know them and their work on a deeper level.

I’m so excited to get started, especially after the very long driving day full of two montonous CDs… it’ll be nice to have a break! Go Team NC!

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Leaving in 7ish Hours

Still packing…but excited for the trip ahead of us! I think we have a great group of people that get along well with each other, so this will make for an interesting drive…11 hour drive (I really hope we have some dope playlists). During the team meetings and especially the pre-service I think we all got to know each other a little bit more. Now that we’re a little bit more comfortable with each other I think this will certainly help us in terms of team work and communication as we head to Kentucky to repair and build homes.

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Leaving tomorrow

I can’t believe we are finally leaving tomorrow! I have been planning this trip since the summer and I’m really excited for everything to come together. The 11 hour drive is going to be rough but our group is REALLY talkative and we get along really well. On my trip last year, very few of us knew each other before the trip, this group has a very different feel. I ended up loving my group last year and I hope my experience this year ends up the same. We are going to Hazard, a coal town in Eastern Kentucky to build/repair houses. I am hopeful that we will have a chance to meet the homeowners and interact with them. For me, there is nothing that helps me understand what and why I am doing more then talking to the local people. I’ve been waiting for this week for a long time and I can’t wait for it to begin!

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Pre Trip Post

Well, the time has finally come! It’s hard to believe how fast the time has flown that it’s already spring break. I’m very excited to head to Asheville tomorrow morning (!!) and begin our week of service. From what I’ve seen in pictures and read about the area’s history, Asheville seems like a really interesting place. I’m really intrigued to see what it’s like in person.

Before being assigned to this trip, I knew nothing about our social issue. The education preparation for this trip has opened my eyes to terms like “environmental racism” and “environmental justice.” Learning about North Carolina’s connections to these topics has been a really interesting part of preparing for this trip. I’m really interested to learn even more about environmental justice and the green movement as we perform our service work in Asheville. I’m always excited to learn new things, and I think this trip is going to be an unforgettable experience that will teach me about environmental issues and problems that I had never even heard of before. Plus, I’m sure we’re going to make a ton of memories and have some really cool stories to tell when we come back!

I’m still not sure about the specifics of the work we’ll be doing in Asheville. Then again, that’s part of the learning experience! I don’t really know exactly what to expect, but I do know that it’s going to be a really cool opportunity that I’ll use to its fullest extent to learn about our social issue.

It’s been great to bond with my team throughout our team meetings and pre-trip service, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know everyone better on the drive down as well as throughout the week during our service. As for right now, I better head off to sleep so I can wake up bright and early for our drive tomorrow!

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Only Three Days

As midterms and various work has been piling on relentlessly, spring break and our trip to Kentucky has been creeping up very steadily, and now it’s only three days away. I know our whole group feels a mixture of emotions just as I do- relief there’s a break, excitement for the trip, a slight pang of longing for a week to myself, it’s all there.
I just know that once classes are over and we are out on the trip, we’re going to have the best time. I have personally have been absent for some of the team building we’ve done, so I can’t wait to actually get to know everyone on the trip. And I can’t wait to be doing the project! I feel like our trip is so necessary, with the economic hardship on us all it’s important that everyone works together to pull ourselves out of tough times. It feels good to help my fellow human beings and I’m eager to get started.