May 26th, 2018 - Ashley Schenk

May 26^th; Horizons final day in Peru. Today was a little overwhelming. We started the day off finishing our service days on the farm, then we had the afternoon to ourselves, followed by our farewell dinner.

Most of the afternoon was spent packing, and spending time in our host families. When it came time for the farewell dinner there was a lot of feelings and emotions swarming the room. Some were happy to be going home after a full 3 weeks, some were upset that the trip had flown by so fast and it was already time to go back, and many, including myself, were somewhere in between. I have spent the past few days back and forth between wanting to go home, and wanting to stay here forever, but the welcome dinner put my emotions at ease.

We all enjoyed a nice meal, and during dinner many of us were avoiding the fact that it was our very last one together. When the meal came to a close we all had a chance to share some final thoughts, there were a few tears, some laughs, and even some singing. The moment that stuck with me the most was when Josh said, “Great things can be hard to discover sometimes, but you guys found that in the last three weeks, own it and don’t forget it.” Which is correct, I found something so great these last three weeks.

I am very fortunate to be writing the last blog post, but the worlds are also very hard to form, because how am I supposed to sum up a trip that changed me as a human being in just a short blog post? There is so many things to be said, but I think the two most important lessons I have discovered while being Cusco is that there are so many things bigger than our individual selves, and that there is so much value in impermanence.

In the past three weeks all 23 of us have experienced a new world, a new culture, and a new way of life. Everything and everyone in Cusco didn’t care about us, as bad as that sounds. They cared about their world. It wasn’t about our world or what we know, it was about their way of life and it was refreshing. For 21 days myself and the rest of us were taken out of our element and put somewhere where we held no significance, and that was a reminder that the space we take up may seem so big, but anywhere else in the world it is not.

With that, I learned the value of the things that aren’t forever. I knew that this trip wasn’t going to be forever, and when I sat on our first plane coming home, I realized that things that aren’t forever sometimes hold the most meaning. All twenty-three of us were in Peru for these specific three weeks and if we were there at any other time it would have not been the same. Everything was so fast and quick, but that didn’t make it any less precious. It taught me to live in the moment, and to treasure each experience because it would end so soon. We were one small group, taking up a small amount of time and space, but to be in that particular moment and that particular space was enough.

This trip was something I am so lucky to have experienced and while I can’t speak for all twenty students, but it changed our lives.

All of us with after the farewell dinner with the hats ISA had given us.

My 3 roommates: Cayla, myself, Emma, and Tabitha.

I had the pleasure of making a video of what Peru was through my eyes.