Stories from Abroad Scholarship

The last few weeks of my trip were tiring and hard, but worth the effort for the work we were doing. For the last two weeks of the trip, we worked in schools with children in kindergarten to grade six mostly. These children have never had the opportunity to have their teeth cleaned. While we did not have the time or resources to clean each and every single child’s teeth, we were able to apply fluoride to help make their teeth stronger and decrease the chances of further decay from occurring. We also provided them with information on how to properly brush their teeth.

It is hard to prepare yourself for a different culture because you never really know what you are going to get. Before travelling to the Philippines, I did research, but it did not come close to preparing me for the culture shock I was about to experience.

It has been a few days since I have returned home from my time abroad in Colombia and I can only use one word to describe the transition back; “surreal”. It feels surreal to be speaking English, to be wearing clean clothes, to have hot showers and Deet-free evenings. Less than a week ago, I was in the rainforest; unplugged from the Internet, taking short, cold showers; learning about myself, tasting the local cuisine and battling the evening bugs. I am sitting here fiddling with bracelets made by two little girls in a nearby Amazonian village and it heavies my heart.

When I entered the Dental Hygiene Program in September 2014, I had no intentions on travelling abroad to put my skills to test. When the option arose to travel to the Philippines for a dental humanitarian trip, I thought it would be an amazing experience. Not only would I get to use and advance my clinical skills, but I would have an opportunity to experience a completely different culture. Upon researching the Philippines, I learned that one third of the population lives in poverty without many dental necessities, "such a restorations" and other needed dental resources.

I have been in Bogota for four days, and I cannot get enough of this city. The people, the view, the Spanish language and the food are incredible. Let me tell you a little bit about what I have seen so far.

Let’s start with the architecture. In Canada, I find the architecture to be plain, old Canadian architecture. Perhaps it is because we are a young country, but I find in comparison to other places in the world, it lacks variety.

One day to go. New York awaits, Venice calls. I’m heading out to study with the Fine Arts Department field school from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. We’ve had an intense three weeks of studying contemporary art, getting ready. Unearthing a few of the secrets of how artists have changed the face of New York over the past decades, inhabiting Soho, then the East Village, moving on to Williamsburg and now clustering in Chelsea. Each time artists move into a cheap, rundown area that allows them to create without having a major cash flow problem the juggernaut of gentrification railroads in.

T minus 6 days until I depart to a part of the world that I have only dreamed of experiencing. On Saturday, May 23^rd I will be flying from Vancouver to Toronto and then off to South America. Am I ready? Mentally, one hundred percent; physically, high eighties. My world pre-departure has been a whirlwind.