After a long 7 hour drive (full of naps and lots of snacking), we arrived in sunny Columbia, South Carolina! We were welcomed by staff at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, where we will be staying for the week. We're fortunate enough to have the entire basement to ourselves, with a game room and kitchen. Later, we headed to the grocery store to pick up some food for the week and got familiar with the area. There was plenty of green shirts and St. Patrick's Day festivities to observe on our drive to the grocery store.
McKayla and Noor worked with our Staff Advisor James to make us a yummy stir fry dinner, while others settled in and completed some homework. During dinner, we heard some stories about Maryland traditions, such as giving offerings to Testudo before finals and taking pictures in the ODK fountain.
When dinner was cleaned up, we had a great discussion about vulnerability and empathy after watching a TedTalk by Brene Brown. We talked about how it's important to step outside of our comfort zones when with community partners to learn more about the people and community we are serving. We also discussed what we need in a space in order to be vulnerable, such as respect, compassion, and an appreciation for ourselves. With a game a Sneetches, we finished the night by learning a bit more about each other and were able to practice what we had learned about being vulnerable.
We're looking forward to our hike tomorrow, getting to know Columbia, and creating deeper connections with other participants.
- Sydney and Brian
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