As we end the first ten days of our trip we can began to reflect on the reasons why us Florida State students are studying here in Bali, Indonesia. The experience so far has been completely life changing on many levels. The entire program is a family from us rowdy students to the professor Bruce, or even the Bali Institute coordinators; every single person involved with this endeavor I’m pretty sure would say that we have all come together as a family more than anything else. The beauty of this is that we all get to experience some amazing and impactful organizations along the way. As a group we have visited many NGO’s and through this most people enjoy them all but some people each get a little more attached/emotional at different ones. This is something that before experiencing I wouldn’t have understood. But because of the family mentality that this group has being able to show more emotion is not viewed as weakness and it’s a completely safe zone to show a softer side. One of my moments as an example of this was when we had the chance to visit Ibu Sari and her foundation that hosts a safe place for battered women as well as children with disabilities. This touched me because of the sheer dedication she had to these people that would otherwise be forced to suffer. I also have close ties to people with kids that start at a more of a disadvantage then most, therefore am aware of the passion, patience, and persistence it takes to work with these students. Being one of the first foundations in Bali to tackle this injustice is extremely brave and shows her character. Ibu was an amazing inspiration to all of us and is one of the main reasons I came on this journey as we can all learn from people like her.
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