If you have not been on a University of Delaware Alternative Spring Break (UDAB) trip, I am sorry for you. If you haven’t even heard about a UDAB trip, then you are not experiencing what it really is like to fully immerse yourself in greatness.

I just came back from my first trip and to sum it up in a few words is impossible. It is life-changing and it helps you to view yourself, the world, and others in a new light. I will try to write this article and convince you how amazing it really is, however, it will not do UDAB justice or any trip affiliated with it. It is something you must experience yourself, first-hand.

I first heard about UDAB as a freshman, sitting in my sorority's chapter meeting on a Sunday night. Only half tuned-in as I scrolled on Instagram, I listened to my sisters talk about experiences they just had with this group called UDAB. They all spoke individually, informing us the basics of it -- performing service of different focuses to different states throughout the country. It sounded like something I wanted to do, especially knowing my sisters had positive experiences.

I signed up, and in no time I was assigned to go to West Virginia. As the trip grew closer, I was more than nervous. I was headed to Brenton, one of the poorest towns in America, to help on a Rural Poverty Trip in the Appalachian Mountains. With no phone service for a week, surrounded by people who I then called strangers, I had no idea what was in store. After a 10-hour van ride with those I now call family, we arrived and experienced a week that no one was expecting.

I can say that I have come back changed. It is something you cannot explain and an experience you will never forget. My trip specifically allowed me to bond with the community and learn things about different parts of the country that otherwise I never would have known. I made bonds with the community members, as well as my peers who before this I would have turned the other way at. After a full day’s work with endless laughter and memories, we would go back to our quarters where the nights turned into mornings with my 21 new best friends. After two days, I felt as if these people were my family. You find people who have similar values, interests, and can balance out your weaknesses. UDAB includes all grades, majors, and personality types to ensure for the best week of your life. As the week progresses UDAB allows you to immerse yourself in service, learning social and life skills along the way. Each day was better than the last, with the final night ending in tears over the week you spent learning, growing and bonding with everyone you met. You open up to these people as if you have known them forever, feeling completely comfortable in your own skin and that they want the best for you. Although each trip’s final goal is different, as we work on different projects, UDAB’s experience is a once in a lifetime.

Over the course of the week, my group and I had thoughtful reflections contemplating what this week was doing to us all. As I thought about it, I questioned if doing service made me a selfish person because it made me feel good. But it doesn’t. I don’t serve because I want it as a resume booster, I serve because everyone deserves to be proud of something in life. Whether it is me for doing the actual service to feel good or those I help ultimately being proud of being able to finally call something theirs, everyone deserves to have something that can smile about. In West Virginia, I helped rebuild homes and made unlivable trailers livable again. I had never used power tools before, never had dry walled (and never will again), and definitely had never put in flooring. UDAB did not care, though, and taught me not only how to build a house, but how to deal with every emotion that comes with learning something new. By the end of the week I had created bonds with my family that will never be replaced, keeping West Virginia in my heart forever. They taught me what it was like to live on nothing. To not have access to education, food, or proper necessities to live. It was eye-opening. I could sit here and tell you the amazing things my trip did for me, but it is more special to keep them to myself and those I experienced it with. Even if I tried, an article would not have the same effect on you. You have to do it yourself.

Although I have only been on one trip I can safely say it was one of the best experiences of my life. I am biased by saying I had the best group and supporters by my side, but anyone who participates in UDAB knows these things to be true. UDAB does a lot more for you, than you do for it. During a UDAB trip you will-

1. Learn more from those you help than they will learn from you
2. You will make bonds with your group you never thought imaginable, making strangers into friends, and friends into family
3. You will gain a new perspective of those whom you surround yourself with, and how the world actually works.
4. You will have the time of your life
5. And you will most definitely sign up to do it again

UDAB will change you, so be prepared. This change will be for the better so do not be scared to try something new. Throw yourself into it, make new friends, and do things that make you happy. Step out of your comfort zone and live in the moment on these trips. UDAB is an unforgettable experience that everyone should take advantage of. Thank you UDAB for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime and I cannot wait to do it for the next two years.