“Last spring semester I spent about two weeks in several Ecuadorian villages in the Andes mountains to do agriculture sustainability intensive manual service work. I love volunteering because I have the opportunity to immerse myself in their culture and learn how Ecuadorians live on a day to day basis, and the people of Ecuador were able to learn from my group as well. I experienced being out of my comfort zone but got used to it quickly; that was the way to learn about how the villagers lived & worked. I learned several life lessons at that time. The first, privilege is something that is not equally distributed to everyone. It is a privilege to have clean running water, extra clothes to wear, and a bed to sleep in. On one of the first days we were helping this family with their work, I had so many blisters on my hands for doing it for so long, but the woman was working so hard I didn’t want to complain or stop because this is her life, what she did everyday, and it would have taken her five times longer for something we accomplished in the matter of a day. Second, your social status does not determine your happiness level. I saw the challenging situations of the families we worked with in Ecuador but even through it all, their faces held the most beautiful smiles that I had ever seen. Third, much of the time we complain about all the things we do not have, while the kids, and families in Ecuador do not even know the things they do not have. They appreciated all their resources and had the kindest most grateful hearts. This lifetime experience impacted me greatly and I will never look at my life the same way ever again. While studying abroad I hope to have a similar yet dramatically different experience in Greece, and learn the lifestyle of their culture and immerse myself completely in the hands-on opportunity. I hope to bring back new knowledge to grow my perspectives of the world and collaborate with people who obtain different opinions and apply what I will be learning globally to what I am learning in class.” -Meagan Quinlivan @travelocityforgood