Gringos

It been almost 15 days since I got back from Guatemala and it's safe to say that I have pretty much transitioned back to life in Baltimore. I was having some serious trouble readjusting to being back in the States for a good week and a half. I wasn't motivated for classes and wasn't all that social. I tried to act normal with my friends but I'm not going to lie, it was difficult. It was hard to communicate what I was feeling with people who have simply never had an experience in the developing world.

But enough whining. Once I got back into the flow of life in Baltimore, I changed a few things here at Loyola. First off, when I was walking up the stairs of Maryland Hall on campus I saw a flyer for a cultural event about Guatemalan Street Youth. I got really excited when I saw it and immediately put it into my calendar. The lecture was given by a Loyola graduate ('08), Rachel Forbes, who spent two weeks in Guatemala as part of an Immersion/Internship with an organization that works with at risk youth on the streets of Guatemala City. She talked about a lot of highly specific and technical terms realting to her research about the ineffectiveness of the Guatemalan government in dealing with social problems. She repeatedly commented on how over 98% of crimes in the country go unsolved; criminals go free with little threat of justice by the state. This is obviously a problem for all people, especially white-American tourists. What deterrence is there for committing a crime if you know that there will be no punishment. Rachel questioned youth about the how their government has failed them as well as the circumstances of their daily lives. It was interesting to hear, but I was more interested in talking to her after the speech.

It turned out that she was working and living in Zona 7 in Guatemala and lived in Antigua while she was there. She also was in Guatemala at the same time as me! What a coincidence! We talked briefly about the busses, Safe Passage and the general beauty of the country. It was really great to finally talk to someone that had a similar experience in Guatemala. It was really great to talk to her. She was looking for an opportunity to return to Guate in the future, so I gave her the name of the organization that Liam worked with and maybe she'll join Safe Passage in the future!

Additionally, I finally had a meeting with the Sustainability Coordinator on Loyola's campus. I honestly just wanted to find out what Loyola's plan for the future was for sustainability (if we have one at all). I was happy to find out that Loyola will be doing lots of calculations over the summer to figure out things like inefficiencies on campus and carbon footprint. I gave her a list of complaints such as: paper towels in the bathrooms, disposable everything in the dining halls, and adjustable thermostats in student dorms. There's just so much waste on campus that costs the school so much money. Not to mention that our policies are completely wasteful and unsustainable. She said that next semester, she will be forming a group of student and staff to work on sustainability efforts on campus. I'll defiantly be interested in being a part of this group so that we can make some positive changes on campus.

That's really all for now. Final exams are coming up and so is summer vacation!