Hey all! So, the participants are here in all their glory :) We have 50 participants plus the 10 site leaders bringing the total to 60 people from around 45 colleges across the country. It has been so inspiring to learn about the other programs around the country. We had a strategic planning workshop today and I had the chance to think a lot about what I want to get out of the ICC Alternative Break program and just to think for my future involvement with alternative breaks. I feel as though my dreams of working with an Alternative Break program as a main part of my job is being reiterated this week. I love the atmosphere, I love the people you meet, I love the community interaction, and basically everything about it. It's such a neat experience to help facilitate others through the learning process and group dynamics.
As I mentioned before, the issue this week is the Invisibility of Disability. We go to our service sites for the first time tomorrow and I'm very excited. Today part of our challenge was to only use wheelchair accessible routes everywhere we went. I'm learning that Butler is not very accessible. I had thought about it before but very little... for example, the only entrance to the union (and cafeteria) is at the opposite end of the building from all of the academic buildings. Some of the buildings don't have very wide entrances and some of the older dorms (and the brand new apartments they built 3 years ago) do not have elevators or only have service elevators. It was an interesting experience and made me very aware of what is around here in the way of accessibility.
Alright, it's almost midnight and we've been up since 6:30 with this being our first break, so I am heading to bed... sleep isn't a priority this week so I need to get it while I can :)
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