After nearly two months away from MIIS, it was challenging to return to grad school life. I found myself “spacing out” in classes for the first couple of weeks, thinking of Mindanao and all that we had seen.I felt exhausted, unmotivated, and stressed, and it took a few weeks to feel normal again.
One thing that really helped was the first debrief that the team had after returning to California. While in Mindanao, we spent every evening discussing the day’s meetings, happenings, and findings. What I felt most helpful and interesting was having that time to analyze how I felt about the day’s work. I felt that I needed that as part of my readjustment in the first few days back in Monterey. When we finally met after a few weeks to debrief, it was nice to check in with the Mindanao team with whom I had become so close.