By Eduardo Gonzalez Bruno T'17
Eduardo is a first-year student at Tuck. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Eduardo graduated from the University of Chicago in 2012 with a BA in Public Policy. Before Tuck, he spent three more years in Chicago working for Discover Financial Services in a variety of project management roles dealing primarily with mobile and web related projects. Outside the classroom, Eduardo’s hobbies include movies, traveling, baseball, and hopefully learning how to ski soon! He can be reached at eduardo.t.gonzalez.bruno.tu17@tuck.dartmouth.edu.
The summer before the hustle and bustle of first year begins, Tuck offers a variety of “pre-term programs” to take part in. From the famous (infamous?) Outward Bound to the community service-focused Tuck Builds, there are a ton of great ways to meet and have fun with your fellow Tuckies over the summer. For my part, I wanted to take this opportunity to visit a country I had never been to and try things I’d never done. Because of that, the Nicaragua International Adventure fit perfectly.
Over the course of 10 days, our small group trekked, kayaked, zip-lined, hiked, and ash-boarded through beautiful Nicaragua. Through it all, we were led by our amazingly knowledgeable guide who taught us about the local history, nature, and food.
Before taking part in the trip, a lot of people asked me “what exactly does this Nicaraguan trip have to do with business school?” In many ways, I’ll admit, the question is valid. We certainly weren’t discussing supply and demand curves or how to best manage teams. However, I think in many ways Tuck is about learning to take risks and work outside your comfort zone. In that sense, the Nicaragua trip was a perfect introduction to school. It was a trip that took me to an unfamiliar country, to take part in activities I’d never done with people I’d never met. But by the end it was clear that it had created memories and friends for a lifetime.
While every day of the trip offered something new, perhaps my favorite was our day in Nicaragua Libre, a rural farming-based community where we stayed with a local family. Our day there began with us helping them with their farming, working as a team to divide and conquer the tasks. Tired and battered from the manual labor, we moved on to horseback riding. Since we were all novice horsemen, we were diligently taught learned on the fly to ride horses across the beautiful countryside. Later that evening, we met back up with our hosts to donate some school supplies for their community, and as our group’s native Spanish speaker I got to MC the event. As our day wound down our hosts invited us to join them around a campfire for local legends and music under the stars.
For me, our day at Nicaragua Libre encapsulated the trip perfectly: as we went through all these experiences, we worked together to help each other succeed. We became more productive in our farming by splitting up tasks, [more or less] learned to horseback ride by giving each other tips as we went along, and finally banded together to give back to our hosts. As a vacation alone the trip was excellent, full of activities which allowed us to see more of Nicaragua than I ever thought possible in 10 days. But it was the days like the one in Nicaragua Libre that elevated it to something truly unique as we supported each other through our shared experiences and, I think, learned more in the process.