auriele jean-francois

        Trip Of A Lifetime was an amazing experience and everyone was very happy!  I was presented the greatest opportunity to be able to attend such an amazing event. The time is always right to do the right thing, said Martin Luther King. I always lived by that quote so on Eastern Adventure I followed what I believed in. I learned how to work with new people and explored out of my comfort zone. Eastern Adventure was full of a diversity of people and a diversity of personalities. It was truly a trip to remember!

   The idea of Trip Of Lifetime came to me one day by my math teacher, he said “it is a challenge for everyone” during one of my class periods. I was very interested and wanted to participate! I thought that if I could do this and believed in myself then I can do anything if I put my mind to it. I remember the day I received the email and I saw “Congratulations” on the screen and a wave of excitement rushed all over my body. I felt as if  could tackle any obstacle after reading that email, but boy was I wrong. My wave of confidence was destroyed faster than a blink of an eye. I suddenly realised that I would be away from my family for weeks. The thought of that gave me a sense of independence and responsibility, which was also exciting but very nerve racking. Everything would be so new to me, everyone would be so new to me. Then that's when the thoughts came in. I thought, “what if they didn’t like me?” I was so nervous and afraid of being an outcast, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to socialise. “What if I was to awkward?” I convinced myself that even if I went and talked to new people I would make them feel awkward and uncomfortable.  Days went by and my self doubt grew worse and worse, I remember my palms sweating and butterflies in my stomach. I’ve never been away from home before, never been to any of these places before.

      When July 8th arrived everything was hectic, I’ve never been more nervous in my 14 years on this planet. I promised myself that I would step out of my comfort zone and make new friends and enjoy my trip. I was determined to do so, nothing could stop me, I thought. I took my carry on and headed out the door. The drive there was pretty calm and peaceful and I started to calm down. When we arrived to the meeting spot I was greeting by a young woman named Ellen, she told my family that she was going to be my councillor for the trip and that I was in good hands. I waved my parents goodbye and stood there afraid for who to talk. Everyone was socialising and I was just standing there in fear. So I motivated myself to talk to someone new and that’s what I did. I walked and started to talk to this girl named Micah. Yes, she was a counselor but I was stepping out of my comfort zone and talked to someone new.

        Once I entered the bus I sat with a girl named Ava and we talked about where we were from and how our trip was. We also talked about how much our luggage were and how Ava convinced herself she underpacked for this trip. I in the other hand was satisfied with everything that was going on. I was very surprised with myself and what I accomplished. So after talking to her I decided to talk to more people and introduced myself to everyone! I wasn’t shy or afraid anymore, I wasn’t afraid of being disliked, most important of all I wasn’t afraid of being myself.

     On Eastern Adventure I absolutely loved everything! If I wrote about my love for all of those places that we visited me and the person reading this would be here for at least a couple of days. So I’m going to tell you my top three places that I feel were most memorable and left me with a different view in life in general.

     One of my favorite parts on this trip was when we entered Canada. It was my first time in a different country since I was six years old (that’s when me and my family immigrated to the United States.) Our first stop was Niagara falls and it was my favorite part there. We went under the falls and I was able to experience the waters up close and got many pictures of the falls and many pictures with friends. I always had a fear of being judged by others and being excluded by other people. When I was in Canada I forgot about what others thought and enjoyed my time there. I even tripped and fell in front of others and just laughed it off. I was very amazed with myself and how well I handled everything. It was hard at first but I got the hang of it.

        My best-loved moment was when we were at Disney world! I loved Disney characters and movies for many years and being able to go to Disney World was unimaginably a thing to remember. I loved the fireworks, the castel, the stores and overall everything! Disney World made me happy and I loved that about it. I didn't have a care in the world and that's why Disney world is my favorite stop at our tour.  Everyone else seemed so happy and carefree which brightened the Atmosphere around me. Disney World truly lived up to its name during my time there. When I was on my trip I discovered many things about myself. During my tour I became more independent and started to trust myself more. Proyer to the trip I was very doubtful and didn’t trust myself as much, I believed that I wasn’t able to make a good decision by myself. On Eastern Adventure I made sure that I worked on that. If I never went on this trip I would have never been able to gain much self love and independence. With the help of the staff at Rein Teen Tour I was able to change in a positive light and made me trust myself more. It made me much wiser and stronger.

     The tour demonstrated that in life you have to trust and follow your instincts and nobody else's. I learned that if I wanted to speak up and have an opinion that I shouldn't be afraid to speak my mind. My point of view on about the this lifetime trip is vision. Vision is something very constructive and helpful, multidimensional and multicultural. No discrimination, no religion is secular. I learned to always treat people with dignity and respect and try to view something from someone else's point of view, to understand people. I appreciate the staffs performance and I’m really thankful for everyone's assistance. Rein teen Tour inspired me to bring more support to my community, my church, and most of all my family. It also inspired me to work in teams as an respectful and open minded person. Now I see why people call this A Lifetime Trip, I learned many life lessons on this trip that I wouldn’t imagine existed. My experience on this trip was phenomenal and I wouldn’t want it any other way!