Bittersweet Goodbyes and Salty Tears (Kira Symmons)

It feels like just yesterday I walked into Sapphire, dropped my stuff in my room, and immediately ran to different rooms to meet everyone. Yet now I’m on the plane home after the best month. Coming into this trip, I had expectations about how I wanted my experience to be, even with no idea of what this trip would be like. Yet it somehow surpassed any expectation I could’ve had. Without even being gone a day, I have already made multiple plans to see everyone beyond the trip.

This week was different from all of the other weeks. In the past we were learning content, going to the beach, and figuring out what we felt like trying and doing. This past week was so different as we all understood the trip would soon be coming to an end and we had to soak in every moment. We had to take everything we’ve learned and put it into the campaign book, think about how we wanted to utilize our final few days on the island, and say goodbye to places we had become so familiar with this past month. More so, I started to realize as time ticked down that I had been to my favorite restaurants, beaches, etc. for the last time without even knowing. The last couple of days truly flew by. I hope to be back someday soon.

Friday night was one of my favorite moments of the entire trip. Throughout each blog, I would speak about my favorite parts of the week, I would be in videos for the social media accounts, and my answer would constantly change for what my favorite moment was. The sunset cruise is one of my favorite moments, not only because of the cruise and beautiful scenery, but because we were all together enjoying our last couple of hours together just being in the moment. It was a moment that I will think of whenever I think about the trip as a whole.

In just a short month, I have learned so much from each and every person that I will continue to think about and utilize far beyond the trip. It was so peaceful to take a step back and watch everyone enjoying each other’s company and soak in the sunset views from the boat looking out at the island.

Reflecting back on the entire trip, I realized that a lot of my favorite moments were spontaneous and unexpected. For example, one day, Marisa and I just decided to walk to Maho and explore the area. Not only did we find many new shops and restaurants, and things to try, but we had a blast while discovering all of these new things. I could go on talking about this trip for pages and pages. I learned so many different things from this trip in so many different aspects of my life. Yet, the most important thing to think about is how grateful I am for the experience I’ve had and how I will remember it for the rest of my life.