We gathered inside the Feringa Dining Room in the pre-dawn gloom. The atmosphere was muffled, by more than just the early hour and the frosty air. Anxious smiles and nervous laughter traded places with pensive silence. Most of the eleven students crowded together in the dining hall, with their teachers and fellow team members, had never traveled without their parents before, some had never left the country. They were all preparing to leave the familiar behind for a week, and take a big step into the wide, unknown world.
But by the time our school bus was driving away from Santo Domingo, several hours later, all the anxiety had melted away. As we drove along the azure blue waters of the Caribbean, a warm tropical breeze blowing through the bus, all the nerves had been left far behind. Unconstrained laughter rang out through the bus, accompanied by excited questions about the work to come. They had taken their first timid steps and were now eager to take a giant leap into the week ahead.
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