Last week I wrote about my horrendous traveling experience to Wilmington Delaware during a monstrous snow storm. Please don’t ever travel in a snowstorm, I am BEGGING you. I am glad I stuck out that train ride though because that trip that followed was incredible.

On January 5^th, 2018, I went on a service trip to Houston, Texas to help with disaster relief from Hurricane Harvey. I left Delaware at 5 am to get on a plane at the Baltimore airport to arrive in Houston around 9 am.

The opportunity to go on this trip was a huge honor to me. Prior to going on the trip, I had a lot of doubt. I had doubts about my life and future, and whether or not I was even going to make it at Delaware.

I didn’t have a great group of friends before this trip, and I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself. When I had applied to even go on this trip, I had sensed that the friend group I had at the time was not right for me. Then when I got accepted, I screamed out of happiness and I ran into my friend’s room and told her that I got accepted.

This girl and I aren’t even that close, but she was nice enough to share my excitement and congratulate me on it.

When I left for winter break, I was scared about what my spring semester was going to look like because I lacked that friend group that everyone raves about. This trip was a turning point for that.

I wanted to give back to something that I was passionate about. I track big storms in my free time. I have had an interest in meteorology for a long time, and I have always wanted to help the people who have been affected by these big storms.

When the EF 5 tornado happened in Joplin Missouri in 2011, I ached for those people and I remember wanting to help them, but not being able too because I didn’t know how.

When this opportunity arose, I jumped at it because I would finally be able to give back and show the people who were affected that there is hope in the world. Many people have shown me that, and it was my turn to give it back. I wanted to change someone’s life on this trip, ironically I also ended up changing my own.

Throughout the trip, I kept a journal and I wrote every single day in it. I would write about my raw emotions before our group reflection. Then after I would write about what I learned and what happened through the reflection process.

Now onto the trip itself. On the plane ride to Houston, there was rough turbulence during takeoff, and I grabbed onto my friend’s arm for my dear life because I was so scared. I had never experienced that.

After the plane ride, we had to figure out how to get over 17 suitcases into a Suburban while the rest of us rode in a van. It was nearly impossible but we did it. Then we went to Wendy’s and I discovered the deliciousness and value of a 4 for 4.

A 90-minute van ride later, we end up at the church where we stayed for the week that we were there. The church was nice, and the food that was served, oh my mom has some solid competition because the food was so good. That next day, we began our service working on these homes.

The service we did changed my whole outlook and perspective on life. During this trip, we gutted houses and we spent a lot of our time working on this one particular home. One of my biggest accomplishments to date came from working on this house; I took out a whole entire door frame in one piece.

If I could pinpoint one moment on this trip where my life changed, it would be that moment because when I took that door frame out, I felt this rush of confidence and it was a new type of confidence. It was self-empowering, and it was the first time I had felt that feeling.

I worked on getting that door frame out with someone else, and we spent the first hour just trying to get bits and pieces of other door frames in this hallway out. It was hard and painful, but this door frame led to us taking out more door frames in this hallway and it created this domino effect. That would never have happened if we hadn’t gotten this one portion out, and this physically showed me that anything is possible if I put my mind to it.

I am not that physically strong, and this year I want to get stronger and taking out that door frame showed me that it is possible to do so. I felt empowered, and I had made a friend that day.

Was this friend my first friend at college? No, but it was my first friendship of 2018, and it was a turning point. This simple friendship showed me that I can make more friends at Delaware if I leave my comfort zone. Next semester, I plan on doing that.

That one moment of taking out a door frame increased my confidence socially, emotionally, and physically. I am more confident in myself than ever. It’s crazy how a door frame can do that.

My life changed because of a door frame, that is cool.

The rest of the trip was a lot of fun, and I grew a lot as a person. I learned a lot about life in general, I gave back, I made 16 new friends (what? Crazy, right?), I bought a cowboy hat, and now I am going to go to a country concert so I can justifiably wear that hat.

Service was the channel that allowed me to find something so powerful, and I will forever be grateful for this trip for giving me a chance to give back to others while finding confidence in myself. Giving back is something so powerful because it gives the people who you give back too, hope. That is powerful in itself.

This trip changed my outlook at my journey at the University of Delaware. I am eager to go back in February, whereas when I left, I dreaded going back. 2018 is the year for me, and after this trip, I can confidently say that.