Thank you for visiting one of our GLA Program Blogs! Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 1-2 Blog Posts Per Week from international staff. It is very unlikely programs will send blog updates daily.
2. Blog Updates sent on weekends may be delayed until Monday morning.
3. Due to many factors including internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes staff are only able to send text.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

GLA Staff

April 1, 2018

All students arrived safe and sound to the Dominican Republic and are excited about the upcoming life-changing adventures this week! Stay tuned for pics and blogs.

April 2, 2018

Today, we went to Dudu Lagoon to go zipling, and swimming in caves. After, we went to a local beach called “Playa Caleton”. Today it was very crowded since it was Easter weekend. Some of us tried Dominican food here or even drank from coconuts. It was muy delicioso!

April 3, 2018

Today we went to Caño Dulce where we helped in the community house project. We were divided in three teams; a group working in the house, a group mixing cement and a group painting a bathroom. Everyone put a lot of work for the day, ultimately realizing the impact on this community. It was a fun filled day with lots of interaction with the local people and children.

– Rose, Chris, Donald, Joel

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April 4, 2018

Today we experienced another day at the community Caño Dulce. We had the opportunity to either build insulation with bottles, mix cement, or paint the house. We got introduced to the local village’so passion for be keeping as well as viewed houses previous GLA trips had built. After arriving back at the home base we learned three different Latin American dances taught by Melanie. Post dinner we watched a documentary called ‘Before the Flood’ where we learned the effects of climate change. Today overall was a great learning experience from aiding a community to learning about the large impact of climate change.

Megan, Diana, Georgia, Fran and Annabell.

Thank you for visiting one of our GLA Program Blogs! Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 1-2 Blog Posts Per Week from international staff. It is very unlikely programs will send blog updates daily.
2. Blog Updates sent on weekends may be delayed until Monday morning.
3. Due to many factors including internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes staff are only able to send text.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

GLA Staff

March 25, 2018

We all arrived safely to the wonderful Dominican Republic. Today we hiked Mount Brison for 2 hours to learn and experience a day in the life of the locals. It was hard but we all made it to the top and enjoyed a delicious lunch. We can’t wait for more adventures this upcoming week!

 

March 26, 2018

Today, the group went to Dudu Lagoon and Playa Caleton.

At Dudu, we ziplined into a fresh water lagoon and dropped into the lagoon from almost 40 feet! After splashing around during the free time at the lagoon, we all enjoyed a Dominican lunch at the restaurant near the lagoon.

After an adventurous morning at Dudu, we spent the next half of the day relaxing at La Playa Caleton, hanging out in the beautiful sand and clear turquoise waters.

 

March 27, 2018

Today we woke up and ate an amazing breakfast prepared by the 7e staff!

Then we took a very short bus ride to our first service day at the bottle house!

Once we arrived, we were welcomed by the very sweet community members and began working alongside them.

We mixed concrete for the walls of the house, cut chicken wire to add structure, and placed bottles found around the community for support.

Then we came back to the lodge to enjoy another great meal and free time to play cards and connect.

March 28, 2018

This morning we woke up to the rain! We enjoyed pancakes, eggs, and sausages for breakfast before leaving the lodge. Because of the rain, instead of snorkeling, we decided as a group to go to the Cabarete beach and shopping area. There we played cards, talked, and ate some good pizza. After eating, we went out to do some shopping, and then headed back on our bus to go to the lodge. We then relaxed, read, and played more games until our dinner and presentation on leadership! It was an overall unplanned, fun, and relaxing day.

March 29, 2018

Currently working hard at our community service site! We’ll have more updates tonight or tomorrow morning!

Thank you for visiting one of our GLA Program Blogs! Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 1-2 Blog Posts Per Week from international staff. It is very unlikely programs will send blog updates daily.
2. Blog Updates sent on weekends may be delayed until Monday morning.
3. Due to many factors including internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes staff are only able to send text.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

GLA Staff

March 17, 2018

All students arrived safely to the Dominican Republic and are excited for the fun learning adventures that are coming up this week. Even Ernie got in for the group pic!

March 19, 2018

On the second day of working on the bottle house we have started to cement over the bottles, which acts as insulation. During lunch we played baseball with the locals and then continued our work on the bottle house. Today was the last day our group worked on the house and we have learned a lot from the experience and the community. We are looking forward to the rest of the week and the experiences to come!

March 20, 2018

This morning, most of us woke up for a morning yoga session before a fun day of snorkeling. After breakfast, we took the bus to a supermarket then to Sosua for snorkeling. After that, we headed back to the beach for pizza and coconut water or virgin pina coladas. We went s​​hopping then headed over to Playa Alicia before returning to the Lodge for free time until Taco Night! After dinner we had a group lecture and activity regarding leadership and worked on our capstone projects that we will present at the end of the week. Tomorrow we start working on Global Health!

Thank you for visiting one of our GLA Program Blogs! Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 1-2 Blog Posts Per Week from international staff. It is very unlikely programs will send blog updates daily.
2. Blog Updates sent on weekends may be delayed until Monday morning.
3. Due to many factors including internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes staff are only able to send text.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

GLA Staff

Saturday March 10, 2018

Hello from the Dominican Republic! The Community Impact track is all here and ready to get to work today on our bottle house service project.

Sunday March 11, 2018

Today we spent time in the local community Cano Dulce helping to build a house for a local man and his family . We spent the day doing various jobs such as plastering, nailing wires, filling walls with bottles, leveling floors, and any down time was spent with the local kids.

Monday March 12, 2018

Today we spent time in a small community called Cabarete. We walked up and down the street picking up trash. After we went on a short walk through the woods to a small cave filled with spring water. The water was cold and refreshing after our walk through the hot forest. We said our goodbyes and than made out way to a beautiful beach. The water was amazing and the sand was blistering hot.

Tuesday March 13, 2018 

Today we went on the Brison Hike. During the hike we saw people from the community who lived on the mountain and had to do this on a daily basis. We learned on this hike that the country suffers deforestations which leads to problems in economy, less money for the civilians so that they can demand action from the government and begin the healing process from within. The people there have to walk a minimum of 4 miles a day to reach the town for their daily necessities. The kids at the community walk the same path to get to school.

The statistic of how long it would take a high school graduate in the United States being 18 years demonstrates how the educational speed is in the country. Compared to the Dominican Republic speed of education of high school, graduates would have to be 127 years of age, showing the lack of educational development in the Dominican Republic. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we were served by a local, Dona Maxima, and we ate like kings. Even with her struggles with having food on the table, she was still able to show us hospitality by feeding us and welcoming us into her home.

Wednesday March 14, 2018

Today, the group ventured off to Dudu Lagoon, a natural sinkhole that has turned into a tourist hot spot. We played volleyball and soccer with locals and were able to go swimming in the lagoon and explore the site. A highlight of Dudu Lagoon was zip-lining down and falling 35 feet into one of the many sink holes. We ate lunch at Dudu Lagoon and set off to Playa Preciosa, a beautiful beach with unforgiving waves. The group was able to buy some local merchandise and delicious coconut patties.

Thursday March 15, 2018

Today was our second and final day building the bottle house. We began by sorting through 1,500 bottles. Then, we took those and placed them into the walls where wires were already in place. Once the walls were complete we cemented them and nailed down more wire. The local children helped a lot, and made the process go much quicker. They let us use their bikes on downtime fun, and then we returned and finished the front room and secured the windows. Once we returned to the lodge, we went to the beach to celebrate Matt’s birthday.

-Emma and Matt

Thank you for visiting one of our GLA Program Blogs! Here are a few things you can expect:

1. We typically receive 1-2 Blog Posts Per Week from international staff. It is very unlikely programs will send blog updates daily.
2. Blog Updates sent on weekends may be delayed until Monday morning.
3. Due to many factors including internet accessibility, photos may not always be available to post onto the blog. Sometimes staff are only able to send text.

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

GLA Staff

April 7, 2018

We are off to a great start! All of the students are here safely and are already chatting away like old friends.

We are so excited to be on our way to the Caribbean today, with a pit stop to zipline through the rainforest canopy!

Here’s to an amazing spring break together!

April 9, 2018

Quite the day, quite the day indeed. Right off the bat, after a breakfast of arepas, we were given a tour of the entire property by Jason himself. On the way, we busted coconuts, spotted sloths and basilisks, and learned about many interesting plants and animals. After that, we had lunch and took a dip in the lovely beach lagoon where we spotted a cow on the beach. After a lecture from an ASTOP representative about the Sea Turtle project, we marched over to the nearby beach and snapped away with our cameras. As I write this, we prepare to go on night patrol.

-Blake

April 12, 2018

It’s day 6 on our Costa Rica trip. So far its been absolutely magical. Last night we saw a turtle for the first time, which was great because it really gave a purpose to why we are here. Rosa was a beautiful, 1.5 meter leatherback. We were able to see her hide her eggs and get back into the ocean. Today we learned how to cook arepas, like a Costa Rican pancake. We were also able to buy small items at the local artisan market. All of us (kids) are getting along great. We all have such interesting backgrounds and reasons why we came on this trip. Tonight will be our last night patrol and we will leave tomorrow morning for Alajuela and fly back the day after that. This trip has been nothing short of amazing and I don’t think I’m alone when I say that Parismina will be dearly missed.

-Joe

April 14, 2018

It was an amazing spring break week with an inspiring group of 8 students. I am so grateful that this group was so enthusiastic, curious, open-minded and fun. The week of beach time, lagoon swimming, turtle watching, deep discussions and card games went by too quickly! We wish all the students happy travels as they head home and on to new adventures in their future!