Breckenridge | Colorado USA
Orientation week //
Week one is over, and it did not disappoint. Its 3am, we leave in three hours, and a few of us have decided to pull an all nighter. I can't help but reflect on the experience I just had. The past seven days have been insane; feelings have been hurt, insults have been hurled, and emotions have been high. There is something especially cruel about packing fifteen 18 year olds in a house for a week. By the end of those seven days you become WAY too familiar with each other, the house becomes unrecognizably messy, and the smell of burnt food/farts/BO becomes common place. At one point I thought I had entered hell, and I am genuinely sorry for the person that has to clean that place. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather be spending a week exploring the Rockies over 8am college classes any day.
Walking into this first week my expectations were low. I didn’t think I'd like anyone and I thought everyone would be “weird”. I attempted to hold onto this belief, but when I met and talked with the other students I found that they were actually pretty awesome. Over the next week I would come to know everyone in that house; we would laugh together and cry together. We opened up about our lives. We talked about the great things we’ve experienced as well as the shitty things. This week has helped me come to appreciate and respect everyone's story. Life isn’t perfect, and everyone has their own demons.
I also came to know myself this week. I hiked up a 12,000 ft mountain. That was ridiculous. I backflipped off a cliff. That was insane. I talked to people without trying to be someone I wasn’t. I became aware of my good and not-so-good qualities. I learned that I love to push myself. I learned that I'm sometimes too sarcastic for my own good. I learned that I enjoy having deep, emptying conversations with people. I learned more about myself than I thought was possible.
Tomorrow I am off to my new life in Philadelphia. I will be staying with Biak and Sung, a Burmese refugee family, for 3 1/2 months. I start my internship with the Nationalities Service Center on September 4th, where I will be working to resettle refugees that have fled to the United States. I’ve been promised that my time in Philadelphia will be memorable, and I can’t wait to see what these next months have in store.
If you are reading this, then I would like to say thank you. I imagine that if you have found this website, you have probably helped me at some point in my life. I got lost for a little bit there, but I am grateful y’all didn’t give up on me.
-ryan
