Spenser Smith, Student - Occidental College

The day we made the decision to head over to India and rebuild a village destroyed by the tsunami, the entire prospect of the journey seemed daunting. To tell the truth, 4 months and a lot of preparation later I’m just as nervous about what we might face and how we’ll deal with it. We’ve prepared in every way we know, but of course a trip like this never occurs in the way you imagined it, and always throws something completely unexpected at you. And then of course, I can’t help but feel that even if we make it through all right and have no major problems, we won’t be able to accomplish enough to really make a difference to those we try to help.

Despite my apprehensions, however, I’m looking forward to this trip immensely. I want to help in every way that I can, and I feel like this will be a life-changing experience that I can reminisce about with my friends who are going. It’s a good sign that this trip has already changed my life- some of the people who are coming have become good friends of mine thanks to the time we’ve spent together preparing for the trip. I hope that we don’t get too tired of each other once we’re there, though!

I know that my experience building my house a few summers ago will serve me well this summer. The structures we will be concerned with in India will be significantly different, but the principles of organization and laying out the building materials should be quite similar. What that I’m really looking forward to is the medical aspect of our visit. Since I’m thinking about pre-Med as a career option in college, it will be good for me to go out there and see if I like health work. I also foresee it as being very rewarding- if I’m able to accomplish something positive. I guess I’m just waiting to see if my small contribution will be able to count for something.

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