One Big Family on the Greenheart Hawaii Trip

By Kate Serbul, CCI Greenheart exchange student, and Greenheart Trip participant

Kate volunteering

Everybody was waiting was this trip for a long time, we all couldn’t wait to have  a one of a kind experience, meet new people, and just have fun! In fact, our trip was beyond any of our expectations. Nobody knew you could achieve so much in so little time!

First of all we did so many different and unique activities like snorkeling which got us really excited, like little kids. We also hiked which was hard but rewarding and also fun because of  the people you are doing it with.   In my opinion, the hiking taught us how to cooperate better together. Surfing was just amazing. It was like a dream come true for most of us (even though I didn’t really do well at it, it was really cool to watch other kids being able to do it!). Kayaking was a great example of team work and it was  just a great time spent, and it was the first time we saw a sea turtle!  All those activities in general I would put under the category, “have fun & stay fit!”  Everybody was sore the next morning after those activities, but it was so much fun that we didn’t even pay attention to the pain from the unusual workout, the sunburns, or anything. We were opened up for a new day and new experiences each time!

The group hiking

As this trip was a part of the Greenheart organization (which we bring our gratefulness & appreciation to for arranging the trip!), we did some volunteering  during our trip too. That was really fun which I would never thought it would be. I believe the volunteering we did was very useful.  It may seem like we didn’t do much, but if everybody makes  a small effort to change something, it will surely make the world better!  The volunteering also gave us a better understanding of Hawaiian culture.

We also had a couple of Greenheart workshops, we all found them very interesting and useful.  The workshops opened our eyes on some things,and gave us an opportunity to think about globally important issues on a mature level.

Another good thing is that all of us students became really close. We were one big family, which made the trip even better!

We are all really grateful we were able to attend such an amazing trip, it sure had a great impact on each and everyone of us and we all learned something from it! We also would like to thank our wonderful leaders-Molly and Stephanie and everybody else who helped organizing this trip!