I am 23 years old, and am from Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The summer of 2005 I went on a fourteen day medical mission trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua with International Service Learning. The teams program “presents a unique and exciting opportunity for nursing students to experience field clinical work first hand in the challenging context of both “outback” and urban international settings.” Throughout the duration of the trip, my team set up medical triages at different places in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. People would walk for miles just to come visit us because we were offering free medical services, medications, and vitamins. Some people had never even seen a doctor before in their entire life. It was an amazing, eye-opening experience that made me appreciate what we have in our country. It also gave me amazing clinical experience. This experience, along with being extremely challenging, was one of the most amazing things I have done in my entire life. I would not change the experience for anything! This experience is what inspired me to enter nursing. I feel that I am going to be a great nurse, and cannot wait to get into the "real world" of nursing!