2018: Puerto Rico



March 3: Settling In

We arrived early to airport filled with anticipation of our journey that lay before us. After several delays (known and last minute) we finally arrived in San Juan at 7pm! We were greeted by Luis and Mariela ( 2 of the Amizade leaders we will be working with throughout the week). We got checked into our hotel at San Jorge and made a bee line for dinner. We had a delicious dinner at la escalera, where we enjoyed a fusion of Puerto Rican and Dominican cuisine. After, we met up with the group from PSU Abington and took a walk around town- Seeing some buildings still completely damaged from the hurricanes while others were up and running like nothing had ever happened. After being exhausted from all day travel, we went to bed early, awaiting the excitement of our first full day in San Juan.

-Aubrey Edwards

March 3, 2018: Leading up to the Departure

I cannot believe that the day is finally here! For the last 5 months, I have enjoyed getting to know this group of students– and am so grateful for Aubrey’s help! During the Fall semester, we focused on having the students get to know each other. This semester, we spent time learning about Puerto Rico’s history, mangroves and their importance to island’s ecosystem, and service learning. I want to send a special shout out to Amizade.org for helping us coordinate the trip, Professor Jayne Park-Martinez for teaching our class about mangroves, and finally, Professor Donna Chambers for bringing her knowledge and experience (mostly food related! yum!) to our class.

We departed the Penn State Berks campus at 5:45 a.m. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed– but everyone was a super good sport about leaving at the same time. The weather yesterday may have delayed the flight, but travel to Philadelphia was not a problem. We stopped for a hearty breakfast, before dropping them off at the airport.

They look surprisingly awake for being up so early, but they humored me with a photo before our food arrived (from left to right: Trent Weister, Aubrey Edwards, Lisa Panczner, Chelsea Watts, Bailee Samlal, Savanna Brown, Rachel Hodgson).

They were awesome and sent me this selfie from the terminal!!! They are (FINALLY) on the flight, and should be arriving in San Juan soon! I’ll update the post once I hear from the crew that they’ve arrived and settled (back row, left to right: Chelsea Watts, Savanna Brown, Rachel Hodgson; front row, left to right: Bailee Samlal, Trent Weister, Aubrey, Lisa Panczner)!

Airport Selfie

 

In case you don’t see it at first, they even brought me along for the trip!

Stay tuned as I receive updates on the fun they are having, but more importantly– the service!!

-Autumn Fritz

UPDATE: the crew landed around 7 p.m. and is settling in and getting oriented by the site leaders. Tomorrow, they’ll learn more about the history of Puerto Rico and going on some really cool tours! Keep checking in, as I’ll keep posting what I hear from them! Thank you for all the love and support you’ve shown these amazing young adults!

February 28, 2018

We are eager and excited to announce that we will be partnering with Amizade.org to help the communities that have been impacted in Puerto Rico! We’ll specifically working to help restore the forests of mangrove trees which are extremely important to Puerto Rico’s ecosystem.

We’re so excited to be leaving soon! Check us out on the Penn State Berks website!!!

Students prepare for trip to Puerto Rico