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Preparation


"For every moment spent in preparation, an hour is earned" 
- Paulo Cuello - El Alquimista

I was recently asked, "How do you prepare for a trip like THAT!" So this post is for you my curious friend. Though I've been in Guayaquil for over a week now, the training I've received prior to my departure is an important part of my journey ahead. As previously mentioned, the training period was 3 weeks long and held at Niagara College.
 There was a group of mentors, each of them teaching all of the interns’ different things in very different ways. The goal of this internship is for us young graduates to gain global experiences while gaining both Global competencies and development competencies along the way. (click on titles to see pages on both)
The training and networking that has already happened prior to this internship has been very rewarding. During our training we did so many different things all related to our internships, we had the chance to experience participatory workshops, and for some of us (such as myself) it was the very first time doing so. My favorite one had to be the one we did outside on a beautiful day. The goal of that workshop was to raise awareness on existing oppression amongst our group members. It was very interesting to see, and sharing personal experiences created a bond amongst the group as well.



It was a classroom that consisted of 11 interns in total, most of us paired up as partners going to different countries. Each of them have blogs as well (click on the names for link) Amber & Vera (Brazil- Fortaleza) Drew & Amanda (Peru- Lima) Veronica  (Argentina) Karen & Angela (South Africa) Ronnie & Derek (Peru- Urubamba) Christine and Teresa (Brazil, Manaus) another thing that I liked about the training period was the fact that we all had our training together. Though we were not all going to the same place, or had necessarily the same placement details, we were in the same training room. This allowed the information to be more general, and it was up to us to make our own connections from training content to internship specifics. I truly felt we were getting treated like adults. We didn't get an overwhelming amount of details about our individual countries. We did however; get just the right amount to keep us curious and wondering. Being a fan of surprises, I’m excited about the new things that I have yet to discover.
“Friends find comfort in what they share, and delight in how they differ.”
- El Alquimista – Paulo Coello
Last but not least, the other interns were sincerely one of the best parts of the training sessions. We all shared something that many of our family and friends don’t necessarily understand, and that is our absolute love of travel. Throughout the three weeks, during our free time, we had the chance to get to know each other, speak about our past travel experiences and learn more and more about other places on the world we have yet to set foot on. I wish all the other interns the best of luck, I’m sure we’ll all have enriching experiences, and more stories to share once we reunite once again.
From left to right: Derek, Drew, Vera, Me, Karen, Amber and Veronica.
Ronnie & Amanda 
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