Remembering Haiti.

Today is the one-year mark of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. The earthquake destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, the capital city, and the surrounding area, killing over 250,000 people. This summer when I went there, there were still nearly 1.5 million people still living in the "temporary" tent cities.

Not exactly the picture of success and recovery.

I don't want to focus on the negatives, I just want to take a minute to think of Haiti and it's people and what it's been going through the past year.

Earthquake, cholera, political instability...it's a lot for the poorest country in the western hemisphere to handle.

But amazingly, they are handling it. I saw nothing but faith, hope, and love among the Haitians this summer. They had so much faith in God, that he would get them through their struggles. They had so much hope for the future, that things would get better, that things already had gotten better. And they had so much love for everyone, even for all the people (like us) who came from the United States and only stayed a week.

I met some of the most amazing and inspiring people in Haiti.

One of the organizations we worked with in Haiti is called Wings of Hope. It's part of the St. Joseph's Family in Haiti, a group of homes and organizations for kids. Wings is a home for special needs children that was destroyed in the earthquake. Many of the children living there had been abused or abandoned, and Wings gives them the only home these kids have ever had. This is Wings of Hope, Haiti: One year after the earthquake.

This is Josephine, a girl who lives at Wings. She couldn't
walk on her own, but is one of the smartest kids I know.
She can speak perfect English. People in Haiti speak
creole, a mix of French and traditional languages.

And while Haiti continues to face struggles and still has a long way to go, life in Haiti goes on. It has to.

I'm BAAAACCKKK!

Hey everyone.

So this blog was originally intended to chronicle my freshman year of college, but I've developed a bit of insomnia lately so while I was laying in bed awake at 3 A.M. last night, I decided to revive Operation College. See I was going to start a new blog this semester because I was supposed to be studying abroad, but a series of unfortunate events have prevented that. So now that I'm stuck in Lincoln, NE instead of Besançon, France, I figure why not. And though the novelty of this whole college thing has worn off and I'm about to start my fourth semester, I don't know all there is to know. I am a seasoned professional when it comes to dorm life and navigating my way to class, but every day is something different. Everyday you grow a little and hopefully learn something new.

So here it is. The updated, improved Operation College, Version 2.0.

And since the first two days of the semester have been deemed snow days (YAY!!), here's the important things the blogging world has missed out on in the last 8 or so months since I posted last:

• I rode my bike across the state of Nebraska in a week with my Dad. Yep, 490-ish miles, 7 days. It was intense! It was in tents! (We camped).

• I spent part of my summer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti helping dig a foundation for a home for boys that was destroyed in the earthquake last January. With shovels and buckets. Easily the greatest experience of my life thus far.

• I got a boyfriend! Well technically two, but the first one didn't work out. The second one is great though!

• I changed my major. I'm now studying Inclusive Early Childhood Education. Just a little bit different from International Studies, but hey, I said it might change.
• I survived the first semester of my sophomore year.
  

So there ya go. I'm not a stupid freshman trying to figure things out anymore. I'm a stupid sophomore still trying to figure things out.

It's good to be back.