Granada, Masaya, San Juan del Sur, Matagalpa y León...places I hadn't even heard of before, but places that I'll hopefully become much more familiar with within the next eight weeks.

In four days, I'll be setting off on perhaps the first big adventure of my life (well, that depends on how you define what an adventure consists of; perhaps college was the first adventure? Or maybe all of life is an adventure, but that sounds just pretentious). I begin at JFK, get dumped in Miami and from there, by 2 PM in the afternoon, I'll be the poorest (yet safest) country in Central America. 

I'll admit, I haven't done a great job explaining to people why I'm going or even that I was going in the first place. If you just found out that I'm going to Nicaragua from reading this blog, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier; I simply haven't kept track of who I've told and who I haven't. The program I am traveling with is called DukeEngage, a wonderful initiative established through an magnanimous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Now in its fifth (?) year, DukeEngage sends around 300 - 400 students abroad to countries ranging from Thailand to Argentina on internships with local organizations that stress civic engagement, global awareness, developmental issues, etc. My program is under an organization called Social Entrepreneurship Corp (SEC), which just established its branch in Nicaragua last year. Officers from SEC have stressed how pivotal this year will be in the development of the organization's networks in Nicaragua, so hopefully us Duke students will be able to contribute meaningfully towards an eventually self sustaining enterprise in Granada. SEC is dedicated towards expanding and implementing something called the MicroConsignment Model, which derives some principles from micro-finance: more on this later. 

Most of my time in the past week has been preparing myself, especially mentally, for the next eight weeks. Unfortunately, I simply haven't had enough time to see the people I want to see and do the things I want to do while home (apologies to those who haven't seen me in the last few days!). More than ever, I've realized that there will be precious few opportunities to spend time at home in the future and enjoy time with those that I once saw every day in high school. *Sigh*...life only gets busier. Friendships become more distant and moments with love ones more rare, but consequently more precious when I am blessed with the chance to be home. At the moment, I do feel slightly untethered. Clearly, my emotional home is still resolutely in Bethany, where it has remained for the last 16 years. But only a fraction of my time is spent there; I shuttle from place to place, making connections, acclimatizing, before saying goodbye and moving on to the next place...going to Nicaragua so soon has only exacerbated this feeling. 

Overall, I’m not complaining however. I’m afraid to have expectations for the next eight weeks. Will I emerge magically transformed, enlightened in mind and soul? Will I fall into the trap that “helping poor people” falls into, where idealism meets white man’s burden? I guess I’ll just have to remain open to whatever comes.