When I first decided to join the LiveDifferent Academy, the thought about moving into a house with 20 people was a bit shocking but I knew that we were all coming here for a good reason! Once I landed at the airport in Hamilton I was so excited to meet everyone, and I had a feeling that this was going to be a life experience that I will never forget! For the first semester of the LiveDifferent Academy, I went to Mexico. It was the best experience ever! I loved working with the elders at the old age home and teaching fun English lessons to the kids in the communities! Their faces lit up the moment they saw our van pulling up and they would run out screaming and yelling, “Hola, Buenos Dias!” (Hello, good morning). It was these moments that I cherished in my heart while I was in Mexico.
Living with 7 other people in Mexico quickly made us become a family. We had some great moments that I will never forget; many nights of playing games, watching movies, dance parties, prank wars, nights by the fire telling stories that were funny or super embarrassing and going out for supper at our favourite taco stand Smokies! We had become very close in the three months that I was there. Then, my life took a drastic turn which resulted in my having to leave my loving mexi family early and go back home. I knew that I was going to be able to return to see them in two months time, but I also knew that it was going feel like forever before I could see them again! Being home for two months kind of put me out of my element; I was missing my Mexi family, I felt so out of place, and I had to adapt to my family’s schedule. For the first while being home I kept saying that it didn’t feel like home, but once the time came for me to return to the Academy I was a little sad to say goodbye to my family. During these two months I had kept my mind busy with volunteering at the local soup kitchen, helping with youth events and the weekly YWAM family nights, and worked at a daycare. The more that I was doing the faster the days went by and everyday I was in countdown mode.
January 13th finally arrived and I couldn’t wait to head to the airport! I was so full of different emotions, I was happy, sad, anxious, and just super excited to see everyone again. Looking back, those two months had gone by really fast but in that moment it felt like forever! This has become my life and there are things that I can not change, I can only look back and think of the good things that have happened to bring my life to where it is today! LiveDifferent has changed my life and I am super excited to be back here!
– Gaillyn – LiveDifferent Academy Student, 2012/2013
We are pretty excited that a little slice of our world appeared on the Marilyn Denis Show on CTV! Jauntaroo, an amazing travel website that you should check out, is a supporter and fan of traveling with a purpose – and they want the world to know that they love LiveDifferent’s Hero Holiday program!
You can see our little glimpse of daytime tv notoriety here. We make our appearance at the 2:45 mark!
