{"id":1499,"date":"2018-11-09T18:55:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T18:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2018-11-09T18:55:04","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T18:55:04","slug":"a-truly-unbelizable-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/2018\/11\/09\/a-truly-unbelizable-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"A Truly UnBelizable Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Grace Wang ’21<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I took the trip of my life this summer nowhere other than Belize. Making some of my best friends and experiencing nature in an unmatchable environment, the trip changed my life and gave me an opportunity to experience life to the fullest.<\/span><\/p>\n

I can still envision the sun\u2019s rays peeking through the clearest water I have ever seen. I can still taste the sea on the tip of my tongue. I still feel the water flowing through my fingers. When my eyes are closed and I lay in bed at night I can still imagine myself on the Goliath rocking up and down. Everyone on that boat and I have an everlasting connection because, in our hearts, we\u2019re still on the boat together. I can still sense everything so clearly, though putting these senses into words can\u2019t capture the essence of the trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being underwater, especially in a reef, is a surreal experience. The salt lifts you up and carries you through the water. Life below water and on land are two different universes. The dichotomy between them is what made each of them so special.<\/span><\/p>\n

On land, we were in our universe. On land, everything is centralized around people. Everything about land has been tweaked and changed to conform to us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being underwater for hours at a time introduced me to so much more than just the ocean. When we were underwater, we were on a different planet. The ocean doesn\u2019t change for us; we have to change for the ocean. Seeing all the different species of fish, coral, eel, shellfish, turtles, stingrays, manatees, and sharks, it was clear that for the first time in our lives, we weren\u2019t the center of nature. The ocean is not for us, the ocean is for everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the waters of Belize, it\u2019s important to preserve the reef. We learned to appreciate and understand that humans can\u2019t disturb an environment that isn\u2019t ours. As a group, we worked with Belize TREC on a research project in order to discover whether preserving the waters of Belize truly benefits the species of underwater life. As we researched, we not only uncovered more about the reefs of Belize, we grew closer, developing into a tight-knit family. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fellow trip-goer Carson Shilts (IV) said, \u201cIn Belize, not only was I able to experience a whole different culture, but I also made friends with people who I wouldn\u2019t have met if I hadn\u2019t gone to Belize. The people on the trip made it 10 times better and I cannot even explain how glad I am that I met them and went on that trip.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Carolyn Coyne (IV) remarked that, \u201cBelize was honestly the best trip I’ve ever been on. From our first time snorkeling and eating bean dip on the boat to playing UNO during our flight delay coming home, I was constantly having the time of my life. It’s hard to describe the trip in words\u2014to really understand how amazing it was. I will be so sad if we don’t go back for ISP.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In retrospect, I learned so many life lessons on the trip. I\u2019ve learned to relax, to take in life and let it soak. I\u2019ve learned to go with the flow and to not fight the current. I\u2019ve learned to respect the environment. Most importantly, I\u2019ve learned that I can do so much more than I thought I could do. From diving through dark caves and swimming with stingrays and sharks to friendship bracelets and inside jokes, I will never forget this experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I tell people about the trip in all its beauty and complexity, it\u2019s hard for them belize it. But, I\u2019ll never forget the trip of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Grace Wang ’21 I took the trip of my life this summer nowhere other than Belize. Making some of my best friends and experiencing nature in an unmatchable environment, the trip changed my life and gave me an opportunity to experience life to the fullest. I can still envision the sun\u2019s rays peeking through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,28],"tags":[120,29,30],"class_list":["post-1499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-summer-experiences","tag-belize","tag-featured","tag-summer-experiences"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1501,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions\/1501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}