Post-trip Reactions from Michaella Calzaretta

"I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most to grow, if we let them and we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true. But I know I'm who I am today, because I knew you.

Like a comet pulled from orbit, as if passes a sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder, halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but, because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

It well may be that we will never meet again, in this lifetime. So, let me say before we part...so much of me is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart. And now, whatever way our stories end, I know you have rewritten mine, by being my friend.

Like a ship blown from it's mooring, by a wind off the sea. Like a seed dropped by a sky bird, in a distant wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but, because I knew you, I have been changed for good."
-- WICKED (the musical)

At the beginning of this trip, I didn't really think that I would get much out of it, mainly because I wasn't here to participate last summer. But as soon as I met those kids and adults, I immediately changed my mind. Those 2 weeks were the happiest and the best 2 weeks of my entire life and I will never forget what those children taught me. "Carpe Diem!" Sieze the Day!! Just because you may live in a war-torn country with a government that won't cooperate with anything or anybody doesn't mean that your life is wasted. No matter where they lived, those young Kosovars live their lives to the fullest and never worry about the future, for them or their country. And I think that we, as Americans, should take a lesson in that.