2024 Student Blog
February 8, 2024
Hot Piles of Garbage
There’s hot piles of garbage everywhere. Hopefully you’re not about to read one. Many of my ideas are hot piles of garbage. Sometimes, my body feels like one. Even my cooking is sometimes a hot pile of garbage. I’ve always associated “hot piles of garbage” with something worthless, something so bad it’s beyond repair. That…
February 7, 2024
Pockets of Peace and Gratitude
I’ll be honest; the past week has been a struggle, grappling with my own emotions as we navigate through the halfway mark of the program. Each day feels like a battle to get out of bed and conquer the day. However, amidst the challenges, the unwavering support from fellow peers has become my source of…
Sometimes We Butterfly
It’s been a slippery slope this week because it seemed my health was only declining while we were going on our trip to Hampi. I truthfully really, really, really did not want to go but I had friends and mentors cheering me on to keep trying with my participation. I thought, maybe…. the fresh air…
February 6, 2024
Stepping Stones to Solving Grand Challenges
We arrived from our weekend trip to Hampi a little before midnight and woke up the next morning to over half of the GCILers in the various stages of illness, recovering but still ill, and about to be ill. With Casera and Matt falling into the ill category, I had my first “day off” since…
Mindsets of a ‘Perfectionist’
These blogs are difficult for me; I feel uncomfortable reading my own writing in front of others. I want my writing to be good. I want others to relate. I don’t want to be negatively judged. As I first sit down to write, I stare at the blank screen and feel uninspired and stressed about…
February 5, 2024
Take a Chill Pill
My last day in Hampi was a bit of a mess. I was just beginning to get sick, but I convinced myself that I still had to go out. Specifically, a 575-staired hike to the top of a hill. In retrospect, this was a bad idea. Sure, I had fun watching Taekyung get her water…
I’m sick, and I miss my mom
I start writing this blog post in a veg restaurant feeling dizzy and coughing. A waiter just dropped off a grilled cheese, filled with vegetables like bell peppers, onions, and cilantro. I am having deep feelings of anger and confusion as cilantro made its way into a grilled cheese, and I have yet to see…
February 3, 2024
Hampi Adventures
A little after 10:30 pm on Thursday night, GCIL students loaded a sleeper bus to make the 8ish hour bus ride to Hampi. I spent the first four-ish hours of the trip watching movies and trying to sleep. After a bathroom break at 2 am, we headed back on the road where I slept for…
Three for One Days
The past few days have been a blur of meetings, tours, and long hot Uber rides from one office to another. Wednesday began early and became Thursday a little too soon. Thursday began the same and ended with us all packing up and climbing onto a sleeper bus hoping for the best. With a stomach…
February 2, 2024
A Change of Pace
In my last blog, I wrote about how it felt like I wasn’t making much of a difference on this grand impact challenge while mostly touring around for the first three weeks. This was before beginning work with our organizations, and now things are starting to make more sense. Arun, the founder of Rise Bionics,…
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