Countdown: 34 days

Oh man...just a little over a month and we're all packed up on our way to Haiti! I can't believe that just about a month ago I wasn't even sure I'd be going. Now I'm frantically trying to learn creole, get to know my AWESOME teammates, and figure out how exactly I can actually help while I'm down there. I'm not exactly the most globally minded person and before I applied it would probably have taken me a while before I could even find Haiti on a map (really...never the geography all-star). After I got accepted to the program I did a little bit more research and needless to say I'm really eager to experience Haitian life and help them out any way that I can.

I first learned about the Haiti Compact through one of our wonderful trip leaders, Katie. Admittedly I wasn't as inspired as she talked about her last trip before she actually left, but I got to talk to her once she got back and the experienced just seemed so...moving. Coming from my not-so-international background I was (and still am) really curious to see what people live through in a world so drastically different from my own. I do a lot of volunteer and service work in communities similar to my own, but I've never really seen what its like for the average Haitian. As we talked about in my first meeting, one of my biggest goals in this trip is getting a better understanding of the conditions in Haiti and how all of us can help from wherever we are in the world. I don't expect to change their world in 10 days, but if we can increase awareness and actually volunteer action from ourselves and others in similar possitions, I think I'll consider this trip a success.

Coming into this trip I really only knew Katie and Hannah well, but it seems like we have a great team put together and we're all only going to get closer. I'm excited to see that we have some "experts" on our business and education teams. We still have a lot of planning to do, but I know having Taylor and Nick helping with some business planning and Kylee and Billy for some educational instruction will really help us get some direction and will help us get the absolute most from the team that we can.

I guess that's about all that I have for now. Much, Much more to come in the future. T-minus 34 days.

-Brian (I'm the guy on the right)