Ivy Tech - Bloomington ASB 2008

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Virginia I.

In one short week I will be embarking on an international adventure!
It hasn’t really set in completely but I am steadily getting more and more excited. As I was thinking about writing this blog it dawned upon me just how bad I needed this trip. Not only will I be able to get away from the madness I have created here in Bloomington but I can come back with a better attitude toward my situation and more experience doing something I love. I am excited because I get to be one of the few who get to volunteer their time in hopes of making a difference. I can not stress enough how lucky I feel to be able to have this chance once again.

One of the best parts about the last spring break was the amazingly optimistic outlook I gained from the whole experience. The last trip helped me realize that no matter how bad things may get, THEY CAN BE MUCH WORSE! I also gained a sense of gratefulness that was much stronger than before. Last but not least, my eyes were opened to how many bigger things are going on outside of my world and how a small Ivy Tech group can truly have an impact on someone else’s world.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Tabitha L.

As I sit here, it is exactly a week until my passport’s virgin pages will be christened with an international stamp from Mexico! I feel excitement and anticipation all at once. It seems like just yesterday my infatuation with international travel began. Now I am consumed by the sheer need to travel and explore this wide, wide world. I will be in a completely different atmosphere full of foreign sights, alien smells, and intriguing people. I know little of the native tongue and even less about the customs and rituals of this ancient land. I could not be more thrilled! I know that this will be a challenging yet rewarding and exhilarating experience.
This year is quite landmark for me as it will present a wealth of new experiences. Along with being a `family member` of Alternative Spring Break 2008-Mexico I will also be moving to Ireland to live abroad this summer semester. Taking into account my love of travel and learning new things, two separate countries in one year makes for a huge accomplishment. I am ecstatic that I was chosen for such a wonderful opportunity! Through the Friday evening meetings that the `family` has had, I have gotten to know 11 new friends, all of which I am looking forward to growing closer with throughout the upcoming week! All of us have special attributes to contribute to the group and mixing all of these unique people will make for a fantastic trip as well as a strong humanitarian influence on our trip. If anything, we will each profoundly touch one another’s lives forever.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Kevin C.

When I first heard about this trip Mr. Mark Howard came to my Bus. 101 class and gave one of his inspiring speeches. He explained that this year the group would be going to Mexico! Although Mark neglected to tell us that we would be laying concrete I was very interested in the trip not just because it was a chance to go to Mexico but to help make a difference.

To do something in this large of a group is great. Being with everyone who will be going through the same things as me will make it a lot easier. Although I am nervous because I have no idea what to expect when we get there, and I am nervous that we will generally just have difficulties getting in and out of the country.

As we approach Friday I am getting more and more excited, and i know no matter what happens we will all make the best of this trip and have lots of fun.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Brianna P.

MEXICO!!! Wow, I am so excited to be given this fantastic chance to go to Mexico on such a wonderful cause! From today, there is only one week left since we are leaving on Friday instead of Saturday now. I’m so excited to meet the children and get to know them and help them out and their families. I still need to go to the store and buy some stuff for them as well as some travel items for myself.

I am so excited about my group! Although I’ve just met with them once or twice they seem so nice and fun! I am happy to be a part of such a wonderful diverse group of people. I cannot wait to get to know them better and hopefully develop some new friendships! When we get there I hope we will be able to make a difference even though we will be there just for a week.

I do not have a tremendous amount of fears, just a few. I am pretty scared of planes. Not like overly terrified, just a little bit, but who isn’t? I also have another personal fear that may not be relevant at all, but I am still pondering about it. I am biracial, Mexican & African American. Although this has never been a problem when I went to Mexico before, I will be in a totally different location this time. I hope the people I meet will be accepting of it since I really want to help and reach out to my people. I think I am worrying about it too much since I’ve faced some intolerance of being biracial here in the United States. But maybe it will be an entirely different experience in Calnali (I hope).

Anyways, despite my petty fears I am overly excited; my family’s really excited for me to go too! I have one more week to get ready and go off to visit another part of my motherland!

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Ejaaz M.

I’ve been anticipating this trip ever since Mark informed me that I was chosen to go to Calanli, Mexico because it feels great to go somewhere and participate in something that is virtuous and beneficial for your self and others. Instead of the usual spring break for a college student; going to Mexico and becoming inebriated, I will help build some concrete floors for the locals of Calnali so that they can live better and more sustainable lives. This helps me see the social issues around me and also helps broaden my perspective on Mexico.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Mindy P.

I’m so excited about this trip and I can’t believe we may leave Friday instead of Saturday! I had planned to use my Friday afternoon to tie up any “loose ends” before the big departure. What if I can’t get that morning off from work?…Hmmm…I’ll print the email Mark sent to convince the director of the importance of me having the whole day off instead of just the afternoon. I am “semper gumby” and I work at a pretty cool place so I know it will work out.

My daughter called this evening and volunteered to drive from Iowa to pick up her little brothers for the week but they don’t want to spend their Spring Break in frosty Iowa. It looks like they’ll be with their Aunt part of the time and their Grandpa a day or two. I told them about the http://wwwb.bloomington.ivytech.edu/blogs/asb2008/ website and I think they’ll enjoy keeping tabs on me while I’m gone.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Elisa M.

I am very glad I got chosen to be one of the people who are getting the opportunity to enjoy helping other. I’m happy that I can give after all the blessings that I have received in life.

Also the experience that I would return with will be transmitted to my family and friends and they can do their share in life and so to other; maybe that way this will change my relatives thinking.

I expect to leave Mexico with a heart full of good experiences and faces that will never forget, because there smile would be the most fulfilling thank you I would ever received.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Giselle B.

I was looking at the calendar yesterday, and I realized that I am a week away from getting on an airplane with twelve “strangers”. These people will be my family for an entire week, no matter what, we will eat on the same table, and will face the same challenges. There are two possibilities: In a best-case scenario we will make lifetime friendships, or we will never even run into each other again. No matter what happens, I am sure that this week will be one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life.

I came to Ivy Tech about seven months ago, the people at the new student orientation told me that this place was going to change my life, and they where so right. This place has not just changed my life, but it gives me the opportunity to change other’s lives. We are going to a small town in “ big Mexico” next Friday. These people have no idea of who we are; yet they are preparing their town and their hearts to receive us. I cannot change the world in a week, maybe I never will at all, but if I make one person’s day just a little bit easier to bare, then I will be able to say “Mision Cumplida” (mission accomplished).

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Jamie H.

So I leave in ten days. Should I start packing now? Wait, I’m not going on vacation, I’m going to volunteer. I don’t think the locals are going to care if I have on a Diesel watch. There are so many things just streaming through my mind. I’m nervous. I’m excited. I’m scared. This is not going to be the first time that I see a community in dire need of food, healthcare, or schools. Those are problems that I grew up with in rural Kentucky. But the idea that I have of poverty is the American ideal. As an impoverished child in America I was afforded an education, and access to healthcare. All things that I took for granted.

Am I ready to push the boundaries of my definition of poor! I don’t think that as a white American male that I’m qualified to speculate about what I’m about to see and experience. I am ready, however, to challenge myself and expand my scope of experience. I have repeatedly resisted the temptation to look up fun facts about Calnali, or the surrounding areas. I want it to be completely foreign. I do keep looking at Google Earth so I can see exactly where in the world I’m going to be, but I want to be shocked and appalled! I need to be shocked and appalled. I don’t want to be desensitized before I get there, otherwise the things that I’m about to confront head-on will be as easy to ignore as the homeless man who stands by the stop sign by Wendy’s. And isn’t that the point? To compare and challenge my definition of poverty and need to what is actually going on in the world. So yeah I’m ready. I’m still scared and nervous, but I have never been more excited about anything in my life.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Judy B.

The question was asked why I would want to go on an alt. Spring break. My friends say that I’m crazy for wanting to go someplace I don’t know, and with people I don’t know. I have told my friends that I love meeting new people and learning new things. They still don’t understand me at all. I have been a foster parent for 18 years, mostly teens and mostly troubled teens. People again ask me why? I can only try and explain the best I can.

My first foster daughter was 12 and was a friend of my daughter. This was not the first time she had been put in foster care; again and again her Mom just disappeared. This time she asks the welfare system to see if she could stay with her friend until they found a foster family for her. They called and talked to me and my husband and of course we took her home with us. She wanted to stay with us so we become legal foster parents, taking the classes we needed and police background checks. She stayed with us till she was 19, and moved out with her boyfriend of 2 years. Her Mom was back in town before this time and she did have visits with her.

Devin got married 4 years ago and we all went to the wedding and Devin introduced us as her Parents. This was the best feeling in the world to know we made a difference in her life. She is now a Foster parent herself, and we talk all the time. I am so proud of her!

If you can make a small difference in someone’s life, it’s the most wonderful feeling in the world. You can change that person’s life forever, by giving them hope and faith in others. Some of the teens I’ve brought home has been very angry when they came, but in the end when they see someone really does care they begin to believe in someone and try to change the way they feel.

I feel honored to get this chance to go to Mexico and let these wonderful people know that there is hope, and other people do care. No one knows how this one small act of kindness could change their lives forever. I want to Thank Ivy Tech for this wonderful opportunity.

This post was submitted by Ivy Tech student and ASB participant Jenna M.

I am a senior at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington. I live in Martinsville and I have one child that is two. My daughter’s name is Felicity Grace. I am a licensed practical nurse, which I got at Ivy Tech. I work at a long-term care facility in Martinsville. I am currently an RN student and will be finished with my associates degrees in May 2008. I have taken Spanish in high school and also on semester in college. I can speak Spanish a little but I can understand much more than I can say. I hope that I will be able to learn about the language and culture while I am in Mexico.

I am excited, a little nervous, and getting ready a little more each day. The reality of the trip has not set in yet, maybe it will take until we step onto the plane. I am glad that we are going to take charity items to a village that needs things. This will be helpful and interesting to visit a place that is not middle class America suburban. I have lived in Indiana my whole life and I am ignorant about what it really is like in other parts of the world. There are people that think that they are not so well off in this country, yet I think that they have no idea how it really is for other people in the world.

I learned at the meeting that it is going to be warm in Mexico, around ninety degrees. This will be a pleasant change to the freezing weather that we have in Indiana. However, I fear that my body will be in shock from the drastic change in temperature. Especially when we are doing the concrete work, in the beginning of the trip it will be hot. We are going to spend Sunday shopping in the market and getting acclimated to the surroundings, so that will hopefully allow us to begin to adapt to the climate. I love to eat and I am excited about being able to shop in the market and buy food for us to eat.

I cannot wait to go!