A See you later, not a goodbye

     Saturday is upon us and our group cannot believe that it is time to say goodbye to Detroit!  Somber silence filled the Detroit Urban Retreat Center as each student packed and loaded their belongings in the van for the 4 hour trip home. Before we embarked on our trip to Erie, we first stopped by the Eastern Market located in Downtown Detroit. This is a market area that sells fresh fruit, meat, baked goods, and more to the Detroit population. While we were there, we ran into Tyler from Earthworks! He was able to give the group a better tour of the market and offer insight on where we should eat lunch.  We spent about an hour at the market before heading to the GM Renaissance Center (a.k.a General Motors World Headquarters) to eat at the food court as Tyler suggested. A second goodbye to Tyler was twice as hard but we appreciated that he spent his time off  helping us! The GM Renaissance Center is located in the heart of Downtown Detroit. This was our first time being in the heart of the city and the big buildings were jaw-dropping. When we entered the GM Renaissance

Center, we were hit with the sight of flashy cars and business attired professionals. We caught a quick lunch before taking the time to walk the building and take a picture out by the water. Believe it or not, Canada was within sight and would have been just a quick swim away! Despite the close proximity, no one in the group wanted to swim in the cold chilly waters of Lake Michigan and so we stayed in America.
     After lunch, we stopped by Belle Isle once again and walked through the free aquarium on the grounds. It gave as an underwater glimpse of some of the fish that swim in the depths of the Great Lakes and the oceans that make up our Earth.
     After this, we sadly packed into the van and began our trip home. We had a reflection in the van and opened our "affirmation" bags, or bags that throughout the week people put supporting statements in! Both of these things brought a happy close to our trip before being dropped off in Erie at about 6pm.
     I personally had quite a transformational experience in Detroit and will miss it tremendously.
 Detroit was the first ABST for many students and when asked, the students reaffirmed that this trip was not only fun, but transformational. In fact, almost half the students want to continue doing ABST's in the leadership role!
 I am so happy to have been able to lead such an awesome group of students. I have no doubt we will all stay in contact and this trip did more than just bring a group of Gannon students together: it has created a family.


Thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible! We appreciate you taking the time to follow our journey through this blog and wish you a wonderful Spring.

From all of us on the Detroit ABST.... this is not a goodbye, but a see-you-later:)

Warmest,
Rachel McKernan