Category: 2013

The journey to Honduras has started a little early for Rich and me. Rich was kind enough to drive up to Maine to visit and give me a ride down to Newark (this is the first time since freshman year that I haven’t had to take a bus or a plane – thanks, bub!) Now that we’re in New Jersey, I can safely say that after driving through that snowstorm, the 80 degree weather of Pespire is sounding better and better with each passing second.

Now about the week ahead. I have never been one to get all excited before big trips or events. For whatever reason, I stay pretty mellow up until the trip begins. This might sound boring, but it allows me to put all that excited energy into  the trip, so I can’t really complain.

I can say that I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity to shake off all the rust that’s built up in regard to my Spanish skills. It’s been almost three years since I last took a class and I look forward to getting in a little practice and learning some new phrases. Along with the opportunity to work on my Spanish, I really look forward to the opportunity to work in the medical clinic. Though I will never be a doctor, I do plan on entering the medical field as a medic, especially outside the US. The opportunity to work at a local Honduran clinic is the perfect start to what I hope is a career in medicine.

Beyond that, as an Anthro-Soc/Photo major, this seems like the perfect opportunity to get out there and experience a different culture. I plan on taking many photographs. In all honesty, I couldn’t be any happier that I got accepted to one of the ASB service trips, let alone that I got into this group of amazing people. I feel incredibly lucky.

I’ve always been fascinated by literary theory, particularly in the examination of the Monomyth or the Hero’s Journey. In this form, the hero begins in an ordinary world, enters a new strange world by some unknown force, faces challenges, receives new knowledge or a boon, and then returns to to his/her own realm to practice and spread the gift he/she has been granted, which also presents its own challenges and can be more difficult than the journey itself. Good examples of this form include Star Wars and The Odyssey. The story has been summarized into 17 individual steps, which make up three greater headings: Departure, Initiation, and Return. In this journey to Honduras, it’s safe to say that we are at step 4 of 17: The Crossing of the First Threshold.

We are about to leave the comfort of our homes and lifestyles to enter into a new world not entirely unlike our own. The rules are different, the obstacles unknown, and the experience… unparalleled, unique, and worthwhile.

This is my first trip with ASB, but I’ve had the opportunity to travel outside the country before during a semester-long experience and one that lasted three weeks during an interim. If I have learned anything during these trips, it’s that nothing goes as planned, and that things turn out better if you don’t hype them up. I’m excited for this trip because, for the first time, I have no real plans or ambitions for the trip.

In this trip, there is a singular united goal: to make a difference. Our issue is rural healthcare. We’re looking forward to helping others in service to a world that has granted us so much. Some of us get to dust off our old Spanish skills and take them for a test drive on a highway. There will be laughter (because I’m there), potentially tears (also because I’m there), and overall the experience should go swimmingly, no matter what happens. We have the opportunity to affect not just the experience of but the very being of human life here, and there is no higher calling.

There are two goals accomplished in the Hero’s Journey from the hero’s perspective: Step 11, the Ultimate Boon, which is the achievement of the goal of the quest, the completion of the task the hero sought after. For us, this is the service itself. Perhaps more important, however, is step 10: Apotheosis, the revelation of divine knowledge of happiness, love, beauty, and bliss.

I hope we find it. I hope we see that this trip is more than just service, a snapshot into Honduran culture, an examination of rural healthcare practices worldwide, and an opportunity to be with great people doing a great thing.

I think it’s possible. I’m excited.

I hope I don’t get sunburned. That’s one of my biggest concerns right now. I’m a native Arizonian and I still always get sunburned. There seems to be no immunity to those UV rays.

Other than that I can honestly say I am so excited about going to a new country. My mother has been prepping me on what to expect, but there’s a feeling of excitement of going to somewhere unknown to myself and being a stranger. I like the aroma of adventure that is to come.

I can’t wait to meet the children and the native Hondurans. I want to be exposed to their culture and help them in any sense possible. If it is simply through communicating or hygiene practicing, I just want to help.

-adrienne

In just 2 days, we will land in sunny Honduras to begin our ASB trip.  Our team has been preparing for this for a little over three months, and we are ready to roll!  We look forward to hours of icebreakers in the airport followed by an awesome week.  I’m not so sure what to expect, this will definitely be different than my previous ASB trips to Alabama and Ecuador.  I’m really excited to learn more about the Honduran culture and way of life, and can’t wait to work with the local community!

Look out for another post about the trip!

-Alana