The Journey Home - A Reflection

We left bright and early at 8am this morning to head back to Florida and I can't help but reflect on all the experiences I've had in the last 10 days. I went into this trip with basically no expectations, purely because I had never done anything like it and wanted to take it for what it gave me. I learned a lot during this internship not only about politics and primaries but about myself and what my future might look like. While I'm here thinking about the trip I want to take a moment to answer the questions I asked at the beginning:

1. How will the group get along? My drive up with Van 3 had me very optimistic and for the most part I was right. We faced some issue especially when talking about partisan issues but overall there weren't any huge fights and we all handled this trip well even when faced with challenging disagreements

2. Will the drive up have us at each other's throats before the internship even begins? Short answer -- no. Long answer -- we actually bonded so much on the drive up, it had the opposite effect. I've seen shorter drives turn into bigger fights but Van 3 had a camaraderie throughout that lasted into the week and made the trip that much better. I made some new friends that I hope to keep for a long time!

3. Am I prepared for 10 days in the political world? Honestly...I think I was. I didn't start this trip super confident and while I did have a lot of learning to do along the way I think I was very prepared for most of the challenges we face and even with how stressful it got I would do it all over in a heartbeat. 

4. How quickly will a group of 24 politically active students descend into chaos? Very quickly and on a daily basis. Though I would attribute that partly to us also being college aged people and that fact that we spent nearly every waking hour together for 10 straight days. 

Overall I cannot speak more highly of this program, of the experiences I had, and of Dr. JSM. She worked so hard to make this happen for us and it led to some unforgettable moments. This is the kind of thing I will be talking about for years. 

Though I miss my roommate and my own bed, I will also miss South Carolina and everything she gave to me this past week and half. I'm looking forward to the conversations our class will have going forward and using the knowledge I gained on this trip for my own betterment and (hopefully) for the betterment of the world in some capacity.