The Journey Thus Far…
In retrospect of where we’ve finally arrived to now, I believe that I’ve embarked upon my first “road trip” of sorts. We left Wake earlier than expected, but later than planned, hitting the highway about 5:45 Sunday morning. I started out driving because everyone assumed that I had had the most sleep, when I probably slept as much as they did, if not less. But the ride to our first stop in Starkville, Mississippi went by amazingly fast, stimulated by great conversation, though-provoking discussion, a multitude of snacks, pillows and blankets. Overall, it’s all quite necessary when you’re on a van for 16 hours. We finally made it to the University of Southern Arkansas this afternoon around 3. You’d think we would be more tired that what we were from so much driving, but after a day and a half of anticipation of Arkansas, sleep was impossible. We were greeted by the dean of Student life and our RA, also the president of the SGA and given a tour of the campus. There are a lot of buildings here that we’ve collectively decided that we want to take back with us to Wake, like the dorm in which we’re staying, and their main university building, which for us is like the Pit, Pugh auditorium, Reynolda, and the post office all in one. But I’ve really enjoyed everything that I’ve seen so far. Tomorrow, we finally go into the high school, which I’ve heard is very underresourced. What I’m interested in the most is understanding the situation that others have to face while viewing it from their perspective, as I believe that we too often try to “help” others and bring forth change based off of our perceptions, not theirs. I look forward to talking about that tomorrow…