PJ Gluk
Professor O’Donnell
English 101
7 September 2023
Slow It Down
“Slow it down, slow it down.” I remember hearing those words from the bubbly doctor and thinking, why? Why must I listen to this crazy guy and slow things down? Why can’t I just do my job and then leave? As I sat writing prescriptions at a little clinic in the middle of the jungle, all I could do was stare at the clock, waiting for the hour to strike five. Then I could go home and feel satisfied with the service hours I’d receive, and know I could finally add a little substance to my college applications.
I was overwhelmed by nervousness when I left for my trip to Costa Rica. Although I was always surrounded by friends at home, not once had I ever gone out to live with a complete group of strangers for weeks on end. Yet here I was, sitting at terminal D, headphones on, wondering what I had just gotten myself into. I had introduced myself to everyone and had a couple of chats, but after that, I backed off into the comfort of my reclusive shell. I knew that I was going to make friends with at least some of the kids on this trip, but at that moment I could not find it within me to take the initiative and start building relationships. For the next couple of days, I decided it would be best if I sat back and let chance deal my cards.
Upon arrival at San Jose I found myself in a bit of a dilemma. For two of the first four nights at this hostel, I would have to share a bed with another guy. And from the few interactions I’d had with my male companions, they seemed pretty weird. Their whole dynamic was so vastly different from what I was used to, and I was starting to think the only thing we had in common was the language we spoke. Now that I was being thrown into a bed with another man, I decided it was time to man up and make the most of my situation. I awoke the next morning and sprung up, prepared to start my day, something I don’t think I had ever done in my life. I hated to admit it, but I was pretty sure I had just seen the first positive effect of this trip. That morning the guys and I ended up just laughing over the whole sleeping arrangement situation, and this was the first time we had seen eye to eye over anything. Over the next couple of days, ice-breakers were held, food was eaten, and friends were made. It seemed I was the only person not from New York or California, so I was shocked at some of the ways my peers thought, but in hindsight, being in an uncomfortable situation like this was a good thing. I saw myself begin to open up and not only express the ways I thought but also listen to what they had to say. But this trip wasn’t just about sitting around and meeting people. We had work to do.
For the next part of our trip, we were tasked with volunteering at a small private clinic on the side of a dirt road in a town named Alajuelita. After going over the initial briefing, we were introduced to the bubbliest person I had ever met, the clinic’s doctor. He explained to us that this clinic mostly served immigrants coming from Nicaragua, as they were not given the free healthcare citizens of Costa Rica had. He then explained the horrid conditions these people lived in and how these factors caused most of the medical conditions we would see in the clinic. I got put on pharmacy duty. Even though I did not have much interest in pre-med at the time, I was still disappointed that I wasn’t in the actual clinic getting to see the real action firsthand. My group was proficient with writing out prescriptions, but when it came to actually finding the meds and getting them out to the patient, we were terrible! Everything was a cluttered mess. We were frustrated but even more anxious as we feared the doctor would come in and get on to us for making his patients wait. But his reaction was quite the opposite. He came in and told us to slow it down, that it would take time to get the hang of things. I thought maybe he was just being nice to us since we were new, but when I went out into the open-air waiting room I was met with an instant feeling of just disbelief. The doctor had taken a break and was literally dancing bachata to Prince Royce’s “Darte Un Beso” alongside his patients. He called us over and started teaching us how to dance which completely swung my mood. Seeing those people whom I previously had associated with misery now dancing around with smiles on their faces, some of them barefoot, I was simply bewildered. How could these people be so happy with so little? Most of them lived in jungle shacks with dirt floors, so why weren’t they walking around with the depressed look on their faces like everyone back home?
I laid awake that night trying to find reason, but what if there was no reason to any of this? Had I just been overthinking things my whole life? That seemed to be the only explanation I could come up with. I guess that’s when I realized life isn’t about constantly powering forward, sometimes it’s better to slow it down. I started thinking maybe it’s more important to stop obsessing over what could be, and just accept things for what they are. There’s not enough time to try to perfect every little thing. You’ve just got to put yourself into those foreign situations and learn to love what comes of them. After settling back in at home, I started applying these things to my everyday life. I started playing rugby, and in a year made great friends who will be there for life. Although it took a bit of adjusting to change the way I lived the past seventeen years of my life, I’ve had so many good things come my way as a result of the growth I attained from this journey.