2019 Louisville International Service Learning: London & Gibraltar

Today marks our last full day in Gibraltar as the NatWest International Island Games come to a close. We all had a long and exciting day yesterday working at the final cycling event, which means today we got to sit back, relax and enjoy everything else Gibraltar has to offer. Luckily, the weather was perfect again, so a few of us revisited Sandy Bay to go swimming, play spike ball, and paddle board one more time with our friendly instructors, Tom and Jimmy. After the beach we walked around to find other events still going on like Basketball and even Shooting. There was a lot of excitement around the basketball game since it was the finals. There is so much spirit here in Gibraltar which makes every event that much more fun. I was shocked at how easy we were all able to make friends here in a foreign country, even having a language barrier at times. It just shows how welcoming and polite the people in Gibraltar are. Each island competing in the Games are able to compete at a high lev...

After a long adventurous day in Spain, we enter our final working day. After working time trials and the Criterium during week, we find ourselves at the cycling finale- The Road Race. Our job as course Marshall’s are to ensure the safety of the riders and public by ensuring no breach of the course by cars; giving directions, cheering on riders, as well as to ensure everyone has a wonderful time. Most of the time the cyclist are going above 30 kilometers per hour ( over 18 miles per hour), so anyone interfering can be seriously injured.  Yesterday during our time in Spain, I felt very accomplished after putting my two years of high school Spanish to good use. While needing a medication from the pharmacy, I completed the entire transaction in Spanish only having to look up one word!  While working today I met this lovely couple that had lived in Gibraltar for over 30 years. I was very jealous to listen them brag about how they live in such a paradise every day. The...

The day was an off day from working the NatWest Island Games so we traveled as a group to explore Spain. This was one of our excursions during the trip. I expected the day to be filled with beautiful landscapes and views throughout Spain. The excursion was well planned by Bland’s Travel Company. They made the experience a great one! Now I will get into how the day carried out:  The day started off with a little bus driver trouble as our originally scheduled driver named Tony had chest pain and could not come into work and take us. So the company called another driver named Phil so we waited for an hour so. It was no big deal because things happen and Bland’s Travel Company took care of the situation perfectly. We then boarded the bus and drove to the border of Gibraltar and Spain. The customs walk into Spain went quick and was painless. I still cannot believe how easy it is to travel in and out of countries in Europe. Once we got through customs we boarded the bus and drove...

Gibraltar has been a trip of a lifetime for me. It has brought me more awareness of different cultures and aspects of life. Today, we started our day hiking the Gibraltar rock. Not only did I get my exercise in, but I also learned more interesting facts and history about Gibraltar and the rock. It is said, that if the monkeys vanish from the rock, Gibraltar will not be British territory. Also, Gibraltar has a unique position on the world map where the east meets the west. When walking today, we stood in the same spot Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Duke of Edinburgh stood in 1954 on the rock. I also was able to observe monkeys in their natural habitat today. Growing up, I had always loved monkeys. To see them running and feeding their babies today was a experience I will never forget. I also had a monkey rip my orange juice out of my hand before we went into the St. Michaels Cave. I have only been to one cave throughout my life, and that was in my hometown. St. Michaels Cave is said to o...

Welcome to the fifth day of our Gibraltar extravaganza! It was quite a fun-filled day for our team and definitely one we will not forget. But first—let’s recap a bit from last night’s festivities. Our group volunteered for the Town Criterium (road race) last night, where men and women from all islands cycled their way through the competition. Our group was stationed throughout the race as designated marshals, ensuring roads were successfully blocked off from traffic and pedestrians safely crossed intersections. The races were wicked—30 minutes for the women, 60 minutes for the men. Many of our members have never experienced a road race like this before and were in awe of the crowds, excitement, and intensity of the event. People from all over Gibraltar and visitors from other countries were lining the barriers watching and cheering for each and every biker. There was so much good spirit and support seeping through the crowds, and you could tell how appreciative the cyclists were jus...

Today was our first day of volunteer work. Nick, Dr. Fredrick and I were marshaling the Triathlon in Zone 9, which happened to be the turnaround point for the cycling leg of the race. We were told that this was going to be one of the most exciting parts of the race, because you get to see the racers in action while they aren’t flying down the track. While we were marshaling we met a security guard named David. He has been living in Gibraltar for 21 years now and he was telling us about all the history on the island. One story was about the monkeys and how if the monkeys leave the rock then Spain would come back and rule the island from Great Britain. He also said that it would never happened because when Winston Churchill was running the show he had tons of moneys imported to the island to make sure that there was never a chance of them leaving the rock. I learned a lot of cool things from David and he was a very interesting guy. I found out that a lot of people on this island are r...

Today in Gibraltar started off pretty slow. We had breakfast in Athletes Village before heading off to our Marshal training session. In this training session we learned exactly what our duties are going to be during the races. We will all be responsible for a small section of the course and our main duty is to keep vehicles and people off the track while the races are going on or cyclists are close. We are also supposed to direct riders if they are approaching a turn or warn them of caution ahead. They way we will do that is by waving a yellow flag as they approach. We can also wave a red flag but that is only under extreme circumstances and the only person that can tell us to do that is the race commissaire. If there is a crash in our area we can help move a bike out of the way if necessary but we are not supposed to touch or attempt to help the riders. If a rider gets injured and cannot get up we need to call for medical assistance and then we can stand in front of the rider and...

The 2019 HSS study abroad experience began with a quick stop in London. We arrived a few hours late on July 2nd, but quickly found our accom m odations at the Imperial College of London in South Ken s ington. The historic college was a great location to explore Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace and other historic areas of the city. We had a walking tour of many of the location attractions and learned about some UK history. A trip to the famous Harrods department store left us all with a little less money, but many luxurious new goodies. We hung out with other students at the college at watched the Woman’s World Cup (UK v. USA) in the Imperial College Quadrangle # TeamUSA . Students explored the area along the Tube, including Piccadilly Circus, the Museum of Natural History, and the Wellington Arch. Our  celebration of the Fourth of July was a trip to land on the runway adjacent to the Rock of Gibraltar. We quickly learned, this small 2.6 mile peninsula off the southernmost tip...

Hello everyone! Our first full day in Gibraltar was so awesome. We arrived yesterday at about 3pm in the afternoon. I, as well as everyone else, was immediately blown away by the huge rock and all the beautiful palm trees and weather in Gibraltar. Our flight from London was not very long but it felt like forever because we were all so eager to see this beautiful place! Now that we’re here it truly feels like a dream. We met so many people from England yesterday and they were so sweet! We went to their room to play uno and exchange different music styles as well as chat about our experiences in the UK as well as the USA. It was truly an awesome first day. Moving on to today.. Our first full day in Gibraltar! We woke up for breakfast which was so amazing and packed with all the athletes competing in the games. But what is more amazing is our view from the room. You can see Spain and Africa from our balcony. The water is as blue as the sky, and seeing the sunset made it all t...