By: Ida Karin Harnes, an Academic Year Program student and Greenheart Trip participant to Florida. Ida is from Norway and is currently spending her year abroad in Washington.
I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to go on this year’s Florida Greenheart Trip! I’m sure that this will be one of the best memories from my whole year in America. The whole week was packed with things to do and I wasn’t bored one second. We got to do some really cool and interesting volunteer work, first at the Fruit and Spice Park where we also got a tour when we were done, then at the Everglades National Park and, last but not least, we got to help the turtles by picking up trash at the Elliot Key near Key Biscayne. It felt so good to do this knowing that we had helped not just the local people but also the wild animals! This volunteer work has also inspired me to do more of this.
We had Greenheart Workshops every evening where we learned more about the branches of Greenheart. We got to talk about different important topics and they made us think about our own opinion about things that are unfair in the world. I liked this very much because it can be easy to just ignore the fact that not all people are treated equal and just go on with your life. One thing I learned this during this trip is that everyone can make a difference if you want to and just open your eyes to see what you can do. The workshops helped me to see what I can do to help other people.
In between all of this we also got to go on a Duck Tour around downtown Miami where we learned more about Miami and the celebrities who live on the different islands. We got to swim in South Beach, shopped and we went to Hard Rock Café in Miami. We also visited Robert is Here Fruit Stand and Farm where we got to go to get a local milkshake made out of local fruit and just relax a little. It was fantastic! We went to the History Miami Museum where we got to learn about the history of Miami, and meet the teens from Teen Miami who documented the history of teens in Miami. It was really interesting! One of my favorite things was when we got to go on an air boat ride and then hold a baby alligator after. It was the cutest thing ever! I have to mention that the leaders and the other exchange students were great and I made some new friends from all over the world!