As this season comes to a close, I know that I have relearned a lot of things in the 10 weeks that I have spent here in Detroit and I have been SO blessed by them.
I have such a larger perception of Detroit, mostly though ppl since i was mostly in two buildings the whole summer (except for field trips). I have interacted with Westsiders, Eastsiders, high schoolers, adults, a Corktownner, new Detroiters, and even people from the suburbs, etc.
I love this city and I hope to continue to be connected to it and that this isn’t my last time here. All of my goodbyes were crappy too, which means that it isn’t goodbye and I shall come back and see these ppl again (some of the DFA students are going on a field trip to Lansing, so I shall see them very soon and SOOOOO excited to show off my city and see them all again).
I think being here helped to connect me to home more, which is amazing, especially since home has changed for me so much over this year (my parents recently moved to Cali, since Michigan is cold, so less to go “home” too), so i have been avoiding it, but its amazing to see how this lovely city is calling me back to my city, and all the things that I love about here are what I also love about and see in Lansing.
My reality was better than my expectations. I expected to be working with the students a lot and learn from them while they learn from me (the flashy easier thing to share), make the decision if i want to stay an extra year to do education or graduate on time yada yada yada, but in actuality I didn’t, I learned SO much, from my co workers. I got to see myself in them, good and bad. I got to see why they made the decisions that they do, I got to see people looking at the larger picture, constantly. I got to see ppl making the system work for them as much as one can. I got to work in a workplace that was filled with mostly black ppl KILLING it while all being SO different. To see ppl that care for their students so much that they go out of their way and drive them home or continuously remind them to fill out permission slips and give them so many opportunities upon opportunities, because they care. It has been a blessing to see that ppl like this exist. I got to work with ppl that if I had a choice, I probably wouldn’t have, and learn in the process how crappy of a person I am and build relationships that my shallow self wouldn’t have allowed me too, because it would have been “too hard”. I also got to feel Gods peace and feel convicted in finishing my major and even though i have no idea what I want to do with it, thats enough, it shall work itself out as it did for so many amazing ppl (I will need these feelings to last when it is real soon). And got to connect with God more despite reading the bible less than I have probably ever in my life because I got to experience his love through EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT I INTERACTED WITH THIS SUMMER.
I have been in SO many awkward and tense situations which were amazing now because they taught me sooo much and honestly helped me to get back to myself. The largest example of this being the awkward lemon squeeze aka circle aka call out fake ppl time, etc. circle that I was apart of this summer. Like that would never happen at school in that way and seeing that realness really impacted me because being at school I have gotten away from that out of fear of not doing it right, but this summer helped me to learn how to do that, to get back to my truer self . I also was able to love my school (also through ppl) more and be excited to go back hoMe to finish my last year (even though I am lazy and don’t necessarily want to work…).
I also learned SO much from my suite mates (SOOOOOO blessed by the amazing women of room 1020, true homies for lyfe) and DCBRP participants (all of them, even ppl i didnt interact with much) . I also learned alot from my life group. That is truly how I learned about Detroit was through selected ppl that I met and interacted with, that are in this city from the same 10 weeks as me to a lifetime.
I cannot begin to write out all the things I learned this summer and loved (like for instance how I see food, wayy better now), etc, but I am sooo blessed that I was able to do this program, it was honestly one of the best experiences of my life and it really impacted the next steps that I will take which impacts the rest of my life. 🙂
