by Priscila Alcantar, March 17, 2017

Winter quarter ’17 was my last quarter at Kendall College. This quarter I spent it abroad in Leon, Nicaragua where I had my internship. During this time, I also took Principles of Small Business Management online. This really helped me understand the challenges that are presented in small businesses while actually seeing it firsthand. Being immersed in a complete different culture was quite an eye opening experience. My internship was with a tour operating company and I was able to participate in many of the tours the company offered, I got to attend national tourism conferences and got to know the smaller communities and how sustainable tourism affects them. While being in Nicaragua I learned a lot about tourism and how it impacts Leon directly as well as other internal and external aspects that are taken into consideration when dealing with this. The way of life is much different there and I have a newfound appreciation for everything I have back home and the opportunities I’ve been blessed with. Looking forward I wish to further develop my skills and knowledge that refer to the tourism and sustainability industry, in hopes of one day belonging to a nonprofit organization that enhance the standards of living through community work, my biggest passion.