The Best Ways To Keep A Journal While Volunteering Abroad
Your friends aren’t going to believe you when you tell them you hiked the base of a volcano, rode elephants through the rainforest and helped improve sanitation for a rural African community. They’re not going to believe you, which is why you need proof.
Before you embark on your GLA service learning adventure, prepare to document the amazingness with these four tips. In addition to backing up the mind-blowing tales you’ll have to tell, you’ll also create keepsakes to keep your adventures fresh.
Photo Journaling
Your friends want proof? Show them the pictures! You know you enjoy cyber stalking your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram friends when they post pics of their travels. Now you can be the stalkee when you share your trip highlights through photo journaling. As you venture through bazaars, mountains and local villages use these tips to create a top-notch photo journal:
- Make those clicks count. Before you capture a photo, make sure it’s something significant. That way, as you sort through your photos, it will be easier to choose the ones you want to share.
- Though your favorite photo apps give you lots of room to play, sometimes simple is better. Decide if the amazing landscapes in front of you really need filtering or if it would be better to share them in their raw form.
Journaling
When you volunteer abroad, you’re bound to experience an array of emotions as you engage with people from other corners of the world. Document your thoughts and feelings each day with a Journal.
- Try journaling first thing in the morning. Jot down your thoughts as you approach the day. You can write about your itinerary – the sights, sounds and smells that you’re anticipating.
- Close the day with a journal entry. Write down what “really” happened. Was it what you expected? What did you see? Who did you meet?
Blogging
Blogging is like a journal that you share. Keep a live blog to share trip highlights, or wait and make an “after-the-trip” entry when you get back. You’ll find that volunteering abroad offers valuable insights. As you learn and grow on your trip, think about what kind of wisdom and experiences to share with your online community.
- Blog “notable quotes” that you may hear from fellow travelers or the locals that you meet
- Make your blog posts easy to read. Don’t share everything. Just include the highlights.
Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking is a great way for you to get creative and highlight your favorite trip moments. You can peruse blogs and social networking for great tips to make a travel book to remember. Here are few tips to get you started:
- Play with fun layouts. Visit Pinterest to get great ideas to create a unique mashup of travel photos.
- Do a collage of day and night photos. Capture your favorite service trip locations during the day and again at night. Then feature the day-to-night contrast in your scrapbook.
- Use one picture to tell a significant story. Take your time to capture a great moment and then use an entire page of your scrapbook to highlight the picture and tell the story.
I have personally gone on GLA trips and I have found you forget afterwards way too easily. There is simply so much that you do that its impossible to remember all of it off the top of your head. When I went on my trip I journaled every day at the end of the night. As tired as I was I would not allow myself to sleep until I made a small commentary and checklist about my day. This helps me remember things to this day about my trip. Additionally when I came home I made a huge scrapbook of my trip. These things help me remember the amazing time I had in Thailand with GLA to this day.