Wow what a trip! I never thought a community service trip would be so much fun and have such an impact on a group of people. I would like to thank Trip of a lifetime for such an amazing trip and experience. I really feel like the trip changed me in the way that I look at things. We did so many things from night walks to zip lines and we did so much work in the school it was absolutely just an amazing experience. I hope you enjoy my essay!

Before the trip I saw things in a whole different perspective. I've always thought materialistic things were the most important in life and things such as time spent with friends and family were important but not as much as materialistic things because i always thought that you couldn't live without materialistic things in life such as money and clothes. Before the trip I wasn't really that excited about the whole community service and trip thing because I thought it would take time away from all the fun . Also I wasn't that excited because when I saw the itinerary it didn't seem like much because they left out the daily activities. Also at the same time I was excited because it was a whole new country.

The first day was an experience itself apart from not sleeping, leaving at 3am, having the Florida people delayed, and the bus breaking down it actually turned out to be a great day because everyone got to know everyone better. The next day we all departed to our community service trips in groups, my group was the school. The first day at the school was pretty fun we got to know the staff and got to play with the kids. The days after that where fast paced because all we did was work on making games and painting a mural for the kids at the school. That day we also had electives I had the elective of yoga which we didn't do that day because it was raining but I switched over to Costa Rica days. That night also we went to a place called baldi hot springs what a hotel! It had about 20 pools and they all were different temperatures. Also they had a very big water slide, we decided to call it the headache because everyone who went on it came out with a headache. We did so much in Costa Rica. We went zip lining ,I've done zip lining before in the Dominican Republic but this was a whole new experience. On some of the zip lines we got as high up as 300 feet and as long as 3000 meters. From up there you can see the very very big forest and the beautiful waterfall right in the midst of it. On Costa Rica days we went on many hikes although the hikes were very tiring they were also very fun because we played music during them and made jokes. Also on Costa Rica days we went repelling down the sides of mountains. Now that was an experience because I was so bad at it but it was so fun at one point I spun down the side of a 100ft mountain. Also during that we had a 75ft free fall, I was looking for my heart the whole time because I thought it left my body. Another fun activity was going on a trip in a boat and exploring the river. One of my friends got peed on by a howler monkey. Our weekend excursion to Guanacaste was so much fun I got to room with two of my close friends and that resort was absolutely jaw dropping it was absolutely amazing it had an infinity pool that kept going until the beach. On Saturday we went surfing now that was lots of Fun.

Even though i fell a lot when I got the hang of it was so much fun you felt like you were in the air. We also went on a hanging and suspension bridge tour of the rain forest now that was lots of fun.These were all of the big activities but there were so much fun. But nothing beats how fun the bus rides were we were always making jokes blasting music it was just a great time where everyone got much closer. I think it was such a great trip because we had such an amazing director, Lizette.

I feel like this trip really did change me , it allowed me to see thing in a whole new way. It changed my view because after seeing those kids be so happy with so little it made me realize it's the moments in life we have to cherish not materialistic things that you can buy. Also this trip showed me that you can make s big impact in a community in 2 weeks ,the amount of thank you’s we got from both the staff and the kids was worth all the hard work. The good thing about our work was it was going to be used every single day when the kids had recess. This trip also showed me to try different things and try new things. I never thought I would zip line that high up but never say never! This trip also showed me that time is not an element on how fast people can become close with one another because in a matter of the first few days we all treated each other like one big family including us, the counselors, and the director. We all had a great time getting to know one another and getting to know the beautiful country of Costa Rica I would like to thank Trip of A Lifetime for giving me such an amazing summer with so many amazing people.

If I had the chance to do another trip like this one I would do it in a heartbeat I think now I'm going to save up money to go on another tour like this one again I had an absolutely amazing time thanks to rein teen tours and Trip Of A Lifetime. Thank you once again.