The Adventure Begins Anew……..

A new group of students has landed in Ecuador, just south of the Equator.  Students often debate amongst themselves just what it means to “go on SST”.  In the lore of SST, there are stories of physical hardship, living far from anything familiar.  Those stories include showering with a bucket, finding creative ways of dealing with trips to the bathroom, and living in remote communities.  Regardless of whether students live out any of these “extreme” elements of the human experience, SST at its core is about making the conscious choice to step away from what is familiar into an environment that causes one to reflect on what is common among human beings.  Through SST, students become more acutely aware of what binds us together as a global human community.

The most recent group of students who arrived in South America earlier this week have already begun to taste the whirlwind of newness. The sheer volume of unfamiliar sensory experiences they are trying to process and absorb causes them to seek out anything that is familiar.  This sudden need for the familiar immediately draws them and us (their leaders) closer together as we work to process what all this newness means.

Ecuador is a place of stunning beauty juxtaposed against a complex social and economic environment.  We welcome you the readers to connect directly with our students along the way (if you know them personally) and try your best to taste and see from afar what a unique place this is.  What students quickly realize is that there is nothing quite like being here in Ecuador firsthand to drive home the similarities and differences of human experience found in other parts of the world.  Walk with us as we begin anew this once-in-a-lifetime experience known as SST.