Personal Narrative: My Trip To The Dominican Republic

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“Pato … Pato … Pato …. GANSO!” The words pierced the warm, stagnant air, followed by a brief flurry of footsteps circling me like a shark stalking its prey. For the first time in a long time, I was lost in the moment. It seemed so surreal, yet I knew that it would be a moment I would never forget. As my mind snapped back to reality, I began to question, how did I get here? How have I become one of forty participants in a Spanish version of ‘duck duck goose’ in a remote town in the Dominican Republic? A few months before, my high school had offered the unique opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip. By no means a luxurious vacation, the trip offered very limited accommodations that discouraged many students from participating. However, I jumped at the opportunity as a way to expand my perspective, challenge my comfort zone, appreciate life’s blessings, and connect with others and their culture. Our task in the Dominican Republic was to lead a sports camp every morning, and an …show more content…

The reason I so eagerly volunteered for the Dominican trip was because of my natural curiosity and unique aspiration to challenge my comfort zone. Ever since I was a child, I always enjoyed exploring the unknown. And I don’t mean just floating down our local river in an inflatable inner tube (which I’ve done multiple times). My parents have also instilled in me a curiosity to discover new places, and I have been fortunate enough to visit 47 U.S. states – lacking only Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Hawaii – and have developed an appreciation for different ways of life from the American Indian living without running water or electricity in the Taos Pueblo (N.M.) to the corn farmer spending 16 hours a day tending to his Iowan fields, to the Alaskan fisherman who leaves the shores for weeks at a

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