Cari Grace Lutkins, a senior at the University of Alabama, committed to connect with her fellow students by being intentional on Cape Town Direct. Don’t miss this great post!
For a long time, I have been searching for the real meaning of “being intentional” with everything that I do. Being intentional in relationships, being intentional in conversations, and being intentional in my every day life. Of the many things that this trip has taught me, being intentional is something that I was able to live out every day and learn the true importance of.
Starting this trip, I knew a couple of girls coming to Cape Town with me. I had a decision to make; live comfortably with what I knew or branch outside of my comfort zone. I’m not going to lie – the first few days I chose comfortability. I chose the people who knew me, knew my history, and knew my personality. Little did I know, the biggest blessing of all was getting to dive deeper with the people that were new and challenging to me. My best memories from these short weeks come from the meals I have eaten with my friends. There is a lot to be said about breaking bread with people you love…without distractions. Putting aside our technology and expectations provided us with meaningful conversations and friendships that I know will outlast these two weeks.
One conversation that really struck me started with a simple question: Tell us one word that describes who you are now, and then describe the word that you strive to be remembered for. What seemed like a large dinner group (10), turned into an intimate conversational outlet. Being able to see what people want to be remembered by provides such insight into their personality, background, and aspirations. Knowing what drives a person to make their decisions really opens up another realm of deep conversation; you go from being an acquaintance to a confidant. This is what my Go Global trip was all about. Intentionally asking the hard questions to get the meaningful answers. Intentionally sitting with a new person on the bus to get new perspectives. Intentionally branching out into the unknown.
If there is any piece of advice I could give to current and future Go Global students, it would be: be intentional with every action you make and word you speak. You will never get these weeks back – so just ask yourself…what do you want to be remembered for?