From Lindsey –

March 24, 2013

It is so hard to believe that the trip is over and we are back to reality in Maryland. I think each and every one of us can truly say that we had a life-changing experience, which has altered not only the way we think about businesses but also the way we think about our lives, in general. After immersing ourselves in the culture of Nicaragua and building relationships with countless new friends, we had to pack up, come home, and reflect on the irreplaceable past ten days. The work that we accomplished with our entrepreneurs was such a success, given the short amount of time we had to work with them, but there are still important steps for each group to take in order to be sure that this success continues for the entrepreneurs.

Specifically, for the coffee halter group, the UMD students need to be sure to reach out to a student at the University of Maryland Law School and inquire about filing for a patent in the U.S. The Spanish School Group, working with Myra should be sure to send over their debriefing and confirm that Myra fully understands all aspects of their recommendations. The group working with Bruno should check back in with him to be sure that he has a working laptop and that the Excel spreadsheets are manageable for him to complete on his own. Anu has kindly taken it upon herself to follow up with Richard, a former entrepreneur involved in the program, by developing a website for his taxi service. Mouna has agreed to set up a crowd-funding page for Hester J. Hodgson Libraries for All Program, to ensure that amazing experiences like our collaborative ten days with the entrepreneurs can continue in the future. Finally, all of the UMD students have agreed to participate in additional fundraisers for the entrepreneurs if this is feasible within the next few weeks. Thus, there is still work ahead of us if we want to help our entrepreneurs reach their potential!

I think I speak for all of the students on the trip when I say that this Study Abroad has been more meaningful than any of us had originally anticipated; not only did we get to experience one of the most beautiful, welcoming countries, but we also got to help change the lives of the people of Nicaragua. Thank you to everyone who made the trip possible for us, especially Jane, Professor White, Pat, Lily, UAM, and all of the entrepreneurs!

From Issa:

Nothing is ever harder than going home after such an incredible and enlightening experience.  Looking out the window while driving from San Juan Del Sur to the airport in Managua was a sad moment for me at first.  I was realizing that all the fun and the sun was going to be no more, especially since I learned that it is supposed to snow on the day after I get back.  Then I realized that although this trip benefited me and was coming to an end, our group left Nicaragua making a positive impact on the lives of the entrepreneurs.  I will never forget the faces of each and every entrepreneur as we were working with them and presented them with their final products.  That moment in itself made this trip worth every penny.  Then I got to thinking, how many people can say that they had an unreal amount of fun while having a positive impact on the lives of people during their Spring Break.  Our group was fifteen people strong and each person had their own unique perspective that they brought to the table.  Looking back, this trip gave me the opportunity to bond with people that I would never have even had the opportunity to meet.  Each day provided everyone a wonderful opportunity to bond whether it was at breakfast, the pool, or at the beach.  Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and feel that it has improved me both personally and professionally.  I greatly look forward to hearing back from the entrepreneurs that we helped in the coming months.  As I look out the incredibly small window as the plane takes off, the only phrase rung through my head is, “Thank you Nicaragua until we meet again”

From Chris:

Today is Saturday the last day of our trip is finally here. The city of San Juan and Hotel Isabella have been a great way to end our trip. We finished working with the San Juan entrepreneurs yesterday, so today we have an entire day to explore the city just a little bit more before we leave. Since it was our last day here we have decided to make the most by going surfing early this morning. Our instructor Alfredo from Casa Oro Surf shop was amazing. We were shuttled from the surf shop to a near by beach that had an appropriate surfing conditions for beginners. Once we arrived at the beach the lesson began on the land where we learned the three steps how to stand upright on the surfboard. After about an hour of practice on how to establish positioning on the surfboard Alfredo took us into the water. We spread out once we got in the water because there were so many of us. Alfredo not only assisted us in the water but he filmed us as well, which was a great deal considering we only paid $20 a person. After surfing we grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel here is where we spilt into smaller groups to get some last minute shopping done, Zip lining in or a few more hours on the beach for that perfect tan. I went Zip lining below is a picture of one of my classmates Zip lining upside down (yes upside down). Our final day together on this trip was just as amazing as the previous days and having the free time enable us to get in many activities. Professor White decided she would allow us to choose to stay in San Juan and wake up in 2:30am to go to the airport or go back to Managua and wake up at a more normal hour being that the airport is in Managua. We decided to stay in San Juan which was great.

From Yecenia:

Today was the culmination of all of our hard work here in San Juan del Sur. A beautiful city with beautiful people deserving of our help. Roxana made our delicious breakfast, as she has done our whole stay here, before getting to work on the finalization of our projects. We were then joined by our entrepreneurs for a moment as we gathered for a great pizza lunch by the beach. This was the first time that we were all able to sit at the same table together and the size of our party was truly visible. It was a great opportunity to really get to know the people we were working with on a personal level. There were definitely friendships made that will be intact for years to come.

The most rewarding part of the trip materialized during our presentations however. As we spoke of our ideas and plans of action you could see in the faces of these small business owners the appreciation and new found hope they had. Certificates were presented as a thank you and many hugs exchanged. Yessenia, the entrepreneur I had the pleasure of working with, was even brought to tears with gratitude. I hope to maintain communication with her as her business flourishes, a sentiment I am certain is shared by my fellow classmates. Past entrepreneurs joined the meeting to share their continuing gratitude and stories of their continuing success. It really showed how what we are doing in San Juan del Sur makes a difference in the lives of these people.

With all the hard work behind us it was later time to enjoy ourselves as a group over a fabulous dinner. The wonderful Jane treated us to dinner at one of the best seafood restaurants in all San Juan del Sur, and probably one of the best seafood restaurants I had ever been to. El Timon is an open setting restaurant right on the beach with a live band playing a mix of American and Latin classics. We enjoyed each other’s company over lobster tail, freshly caught fish, savory clams, and exotic octopus dishes. There is nothing better than being rewarded for hard work with a delicious meal and great company.

The festivities continued as we got the opportunity to discover the night life and take part in all that the town had to offer. We bounced around the dance spots, got a chance to relax together under the clear night sky on the beach, and really bond over our shared experiences. As the night went on we mingled with the locales and heard stories from those that came from far away and fell in love with the town. Folks came from all over the world, from Germany and Sweden to Canada and Australia. Each person with their own unique adventure and reasons for staying and not wanting to leave. Perhaps we all have a little soul searching to do, but this night was cut a bit short. There was surfing to do in the morning, and we were determined to be ready for it.

From Jenna:

            This morning we were given the opportunity to eat an authentic breakfast of tamales. We used the morning to meet with the entrepreneurs to continue working on our projects. Some groups worked on financial statements while others did manual work such as painting the Spanish school. Most entrepreneurs now have websites, flyers and business cards to assist in making their business successful. As the morning progressed the one group worked with Mirna to make a typical school budget lunch of rice and chicken. This gave us the opportunity to see what the people of Nicaragua typically eat each day. Most groups were able to complete all of the work necessary for their entrepreneurs during the afternoon and into the evening. Throughout the day we all discovered how much we appreciate the Internet and electricity due to sporadic outages in the city. We used the early evening to explore the city, shop at local stores and watch the sunset on the beach. Some of the students decided to go zip lining through the forest during the afternoon. We all went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant two blocks away from the hotel before the establishment closes next week. Overall it was a productive day with the entrepreneurs putting the finishing touches on their next step to success.

From Charu

March 19

Today was our first morning in San Juan Del Sur and our first time meeting the local entrepreneurs we have been selected to work with. The morning started out with a fabulous breakfast that consisted of fresh fruits, chocolate chip and banana pancakes the size of a dinner plate, cinnamon rolls made from scratch by the group I am helping and eggs made to order. I have learned that here in Nicaragua breakfast is a hearty meal and I absolutely love it! Soon after breakfast I had the opportunity to meet Mirna and Ruth, two sisters who custom cater meals for events at hotels, operate a snack food truck, make jewelry and bags, and specialize in pastries and sweet breads. These were the entrepreneurs that I was going to work with. Initially, I was surprised and confused when I heard about all that they did because in the U.S. we usually see entrepreneurs pick a particular industry/field and invest all their time and resources in that one direction. However, I soon realized that the margins that the local entrepreneurs made was not much and to survive they needed to be versatile. My group and I worked with Mirna and Ruth to create some marketing materials such as flyers and business cards and although it seemed so simple and easy to us, to the entrepreneurs it was a big deal. They did not have easy access to computers or the internet and had limited education or training in marketing or technology. Something that I have available to me at my fingertips is something that they go without in their lives on a regular basis. After a productive morning we dispersed for a relaxing afternoon of rest in anticipation of a fun fiesta that was planned for the evening. The evening was amazing! One of the other entrepreneurs, Bruno owns a catering service and organized a lovely dinner for us students, the coordinators and all the local entrepreneurs and their families. The dinner consisted of authentic Nica food, fun conversation with the local entrepreneurs, mouth-watering pies made by Yessenia another one of the entrepreneurs and folk dancing. It was an experience I will never forget! Can’t wait to see what is in store for tomorrow.

From Carmen:

Let’s explore Granada!! Vamos a explorar Granada!

Today was one of the most physical day we have ever had on this trip! Some of us started the day by going to the gym to exercise. A couple of hours later, we all got together and went for a bike tour. As a united team, we rode through the town and stopped by multiple places, including a lake and a cemetery. Throughout this adventure, we had the chance to sightsee as well as get a sense of how the population in Granada is living. Coming from another developing country (Cote d’ Ivoire), which according to general rankings is doing better than Nicaragua, I was not much surprised by the precarious conditions in which the general population lives in. However, I truly admired how the people would always find ways to keep a smile on their faces. This has made me think all along of the general saying that no matter what situation you are in, always keep a smile on your face, especially when there could people somewhere else experiencing worse.

           

Considering all these facts and experiences, I am truly glad to have decided to take this course. Nicaragua and the cities we have visited thus far (Managua and Granada) need students and individuals like us to come and help their citizens in any way we can. Personally, I am gaining more than I expected and feel very grateful. I cannot wait to see what we will be able to do next!

            

As it snows in Maryland, we're enjoying the amazing weather here! Our day started a but late considering the Nicaraguan time culture. Once we left we stopped at a local market that sold items anywhere ranging from food to construction tools. It was interesting to see how all the locals were able to gather in one location to buy their essentials for daily life as well as luxury items. Our next stop was the Masaya volcano. Although the sulfur was heavy, the view was breath  taking. After, we drove and finally reached Granada. The city is so beautiful. This city has much more color, even with it's buildings. Once we explored our villa, a few of us decided to take a boat tour of their islands where the elite population from Managua have vacation homes. It was interesting to see the contrast between the locals and the grand houses. The culture here is significantly different; our tour guide explained how they're main job is fishing, with minimal to no exports and cannot afford motor boats so they must manually row their boats for miles. It makes me grateful for the programs and opportunities that the US offers employes, in comparison to these third work countries. The culture here has expanded my horizon greatly from the simple things such as their sense of leaving time to the comfortableness wealth disparity.
Overall, this has been an eye opening, amazing trip.

Joshua Herl

 Nicaragua Blog: Sunday March 16^th

Today was a fun and eventful day that began with a buffet in the morning to get everyone ready for the important day ahead of them.  After a late breakfast, all of the students got back into their respective groups to work with their assigned entrepreneurs.  Then after few hours of working diligently with the entrepreneurs, everyone sat down for a delicious buffet lunch that was catered by the Camino Real Hotel.  Everyone then got back to work and put the finishing touches on the presentations that were to be presented on the issues the entrepreneurs were facing and how each group worked to help solve these issues. 

The first group to present was Zama, a business that was selling shoes made of recycled jeans and tires.  The group helped create flyers and business cards so that they could marker their product to potential customers.  The scone group presentation was for a device that made holding a basket for coffee bean pickers more ergonomic and efficient in holding the beans.  The group set up a very informative website that focused on sharing the entrepreneurs story and explaining the efficiency of their product to individuals associated with the coffee bean industry.  The next group presentation was focused on assisting individuals from Honduras that were trying to preserve documents that were tarnished due to inclement weather.  The group brainstormed and concluded that setting up a new major in library sciences that specializes in preserving documents would be an effective way to save the important historical documents.  The final group to present assisted two doctors that created a medical lift device that helped pick up patients at a hospital.  The group found that producing the lifts in Nicaragua would be more cost-effective compared to shipping the devices from Esteli, Nicaragua.

Every single presentation was fantastic!  One could really see that each group became very close and was able to craft a plan that would be beneficial to each entrepreneur.  Then there was a ceremony in which each group was congratulated on their efforts.  After saying goodbye to the entrepreneurs, we all went out to eat and sightsee at a newly built pier.  Although some groups ate at different places, the consensus was that the dinners were delicious.  Most of us then relaxed by the pool after returning to the hotel, because we knew we had a long and exciting day ahead of us on Monday.

The First Day!

Monday, March 15, 2014

Today was day one of our class here in Nicaragua and all of us were eager to begin working on our projects. We started off the day by traveling to Universidad Americana (UAM) where we were scheduled to meet our groups that we would be working with.  Once we arrived at the university we had a brief introduction meeting where we got to know everyone.  We not only had students from UAM, the university we were at, but other students from the Universidad Nacional Autonomia de Nicaragua.  After the meet and greet we broke off into our groups to begin working on our projects.

Our class has a total of four different projects here in Managua.  Each of these projects has 3-4 University of Maryland Smith school students, 1-2 UAM business students, and the entrepreneurs, which are students and graduates from UNAN. Our group is a little different.

Our team has a very unique opportunity working with the Honduran Ministry of Foreign affairs and faculty from the Universidad Nacional Autonomia de Honduras to help them find funding for a project.  This funding will be used to help them restore many different historical documents that have been damaged by past hurricanes and have recently been discovered.  We spent most of the day researching different funding options in order to put together a list of various funding sources that the Hondurans would be able to try to obtain funding from.

                Since the reason why we are here in Nicaragua is to learn, I want to take some time to reflect upon what we actually did learn today. The day was full of many different experiences, but the most valuable lesson we learned was introspective. We truly learned how different it is doing business in a different country with a different culture, and how difficult it can be when one is used to his or her own cultural norms. Cultural differences are discussed every day in our classes, but actually having an experience that occurs from cultural differences is when one truly has the opportunity to learn and see how he or she would act. This is when one learns the importance of being flexible, and being able to adapt the any situation at hand.  When one is flexible, one is able to handle any situation smoothly, and without flexibility handling situations can be extremely stressful.

                We arrived in Nicaragua expecting to work with a group of entrepreneurs that were developing a new product for the market here, but that did not end up working out. Thanks to the flexibility that was demonstrated through our faculty we were able to begin working on this extremely interesting project with UNAH and the Foreign Ministry of Affairs of Honduras.  We spent most of the first day scrambling in order to adapt to our new project, since all of the research we had done was for something in a completely different field, but this is all part of the learning experience in a study abroad program right? 

We are extremely excited to see where we go with our new project, and even more excited to see what else we will learn in the coming week!

From Oxana:

Do you not want to study abroad?

Who would not like to study abroad? I just wonder... I cannot find any reason why every student would not wish to study abroad for at least a short period of time.

                From the time that I moved to states, I realized how diverse, interesting and exciting some places, people and cultures can be. Even though in this country we are lucky to be surrounded by this variety, there is nothing better than travelling to a foreign country (or sometimes just a different state), meeting people that live there, getting to know them, understand their culture and where they come from. And every single place and person have something unique about them, something that you could have missed if you did not get to know them. I hope that one day I would have had traveled to many countries, and have got to know and understand many different cultures.

                This is just one of the reasons why I decided to study abroad in Nicaragua. The opportunity that we are given to make a difference for a small entrepreneur, to utilize that valuable knowledge obtained from the Smith school, and apply it to real world businesses, makes me impatiently look forward to this trip. After all an education is not only about receiving, it is about giving back a little more than what was offered to you. And I hope to make a difference for those micro entrepreneurs that are brave enough to build and develop their business in a small, developing country.

I know it will be a great experience that will create a lot of memories. My only worry is the length of the program. I am afraid to not have enough time to practice and improve my poor Spanish language skills. With that being said, I will take the most out of this trip.