Day 4 - runnin' around like chickens with our heads cut off

Today began by making breakfast with our community groups, which consist of a leader and 7-8 other people that you ideally wouldn’t know prior to this trip. The leaders were given, eggs, bacon, cheese, bread, yogurt, and juice for us to make in their apartments. We made scrambled eggs (I chose to make mine into a sandwich with bacon, yum) and ate around the table together. We discussed what group work experiences we’ve had, both good and bad, and how we can use that knowledge to better participate in our groups both while here and in the future.

Ches, Erin, Laura Claire, Blair and I at the Waterfront

After breakfast, we made it down to the room on the first floor of the apartments where we usually have our class in the mornings. Today we would be talking about our Top 5 Strengths we had determined prior to departure from the states on a site called strengthsquest.com. Mine were harmony, learner, responsibility, discipline, and analytical. As lame as some of these may sound, I agree that they describe me fairly well.

Roomies! Adams, Laura Claire, me and Ches on the sunset cruise

According to StrengthsQuest, people strong in harmony look for consensus among everyone and seek areas of agreement while avoiding conflict. Check. Learner means that I want to continually improve and understand the processes of why things are the way they are, as opposed to just accepting the outcome without understanding. Yep. Responsibility means that I take ownership of what I say I’m going to do. I surely try! Discipline means I enjoy routine and structure and thrive on creating order. Oh yeah, definitely. Analytical means that I search for “reasons and causes” and have the ability to think of various factors that may affect a situation. I think they’ve got me down to a T! Scary.

Laura Claire and I trying to look super cool

After class this morning we were to go on a wild goose chase, aka scavenger hunt, taking pictures at various places and of odd things with all but one group member in the picture (someone had to take the pic, right?). We ran around all over the place doing crazy things like sticking a hand in the pool, all fitting on someone’s twin bed, making it rand (throwing money for you non-hipsters), doing a pyramid on the beach, scaring staff members, squeezing 13 people in an elevator, skyping someone’s mom, and posing with a baconlolly. What is a baconlolly? We had no idea. We googled it and decided to wrap bacon around a hotdog and cross our fingers. It was crazy and so fun!

After running around like mad people, a group of us decided it would be a good idea to go for an actual run. This time it was purely recreational and to the lighthouse and back, about a 2.4 mile run we’re told. Now I’m not a runner…I get too bored, but it actually wasn’t too bad! Plus, it didn’t hurt that it was the prettiest weather we’ve had all week!

Tonight we had the fantastical opportunity to go on a Sunset Champagne Cruise from the Waterfront. It. Was. Gorgeous.