It is six forty-five and my Belize meeting starts at seven. I know it will only take me a minute to walk over to Stover, but I don’t know what to do that will take less than fifteen minutes. So, I can so either sit in my room and start at the clock for fifteen minutes or arrive early to make myself appear responsible and prompt. I only know one girl who is also going on this trip, Elizabeth, and so making a good first impression might not be a bad idea. I grab my coat, put on my boots, and go on my way.
I walk up the stairs slowly hoping to run into someone I know and follow them in. I do not have any such luck. I make my best attempt to be sneaky and peer around corners into rooms to see if there are people who look like they would go on a mission trip to Belize. The only two problems are that I don’t have a sneaky bone in my whole body and I don’t have a clue what people that would go on a mission trip to Belize look like. This makes my efforts pointless, but I continue with them hoping that even though I know I’m not sneaky that just maybe someone will believe it for a few seconds.
Fortunately there are not many people at Stover on a Sunday night. The third room I come to is the first one that someone else is in. There are four girls, none of which I know. Two girls are on each side of the table towards the front of the room. There are a couple stacks of paper at the very front of the table with information about Peacework, the program we work through, which confirms that this is my destination. Suddenly I realize that as I walked in all eyes became fixed on me. I say hi and sit down in the first seat available right next to one of the girls. I wish I would have taken just a moment to think before sitting. I am at the end of the table which means there is no room for Elizabeth and I will only be able to talk to this girl beside me. I grab for my phone to text my roommate some sort of pointless message just to pass time until the meeting starts. Maybe this is why I usually just aim to be on time and not early. Being early is more work and I do not like that. I look around after I send a message to see if the room has filled up at all. It takes a painfully slow twenty minutes before everyone arrives.
Skip, our trip leader, is finally ready and introduces himself. As expected, we are all allowed to introduce ourselves to the people we will be living with for a week. It’s strange to think that someone you have never met before will be with you for basically 168 hours straight. Most of the other students are education majors. I am the only pre-law student, but I don’t think that will matter. I have done my fair share of tutoring, so I have at least a basic idea of what teaching includes. I recognize two people other than Elizabeth, one is my R.A. and the other is a guy who I had taken one honors seminar with. I feel much more comfortable knowing three faces than just one. Although it’s not a big difference in number, it still makes a big difference.
After introductions are over, so is most of the meeting. Everyone’s attention is turned to Skip so that we can get the information we need and get back to where ever we are headed next. He quickly passes out the packets. “I’m not going to go over much today because it is our first meeting. I would like you all to take some time over this next week to look over this information I’m passing out and also to do some research of your own on Belize. Next week we will get more into the history of Belize. I will also be emailing you details of our plans for our week in Belize. That’s pretty much it for night, so I hope you have good week and I will see you next week at seven.”
Just like that it was over. Everything seemed just a little bit more real to me without being overwhelming. I was able to meet everyone that I would soon know like my brothers and sisters and have more information that I can read on my on time. I’m a little surprised that we did not do more with Belize, but there is still a while before we leave. So I pick up my packets and walk back to my room. There is plenty to learn and do before next week.
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