Sarah Blugis, a sophomore majoring in political communication, is a Hatchet columnist.

The night before spring break, I was ready to drop out of my Alternative Breaks trip to Alabama. In that moment, traveling further from home than I ever had before – with 40 strangers – didn’t sound fun.

Before the trip, I wondered if I would make any friends. Would I have anything in common with these people? I had asked one of our student leaders if we should bring our laptops. I was hoping that if worst came to worst — if I didn’t connect with anyone on the trip — I could hide behind Tumblr.

In retrospect, I’m glad that the answer was no.

To an outsider, Alternative Breaks might look like an excuse to Instagram yourself hammering a nail into some siding, with the caption, “Look at me doing #service!” But forcing myself to get on that bus was one of the best decisions I’ve made at GW.

People volunteer because they enjoy community service, but students on these trips aren’t just trying to help the communities where we volunteer. In fact, whether we realize it or not, we’re making just as big of a difference in our own community by challenging its social structure.

I’m not a part of any Greek organization, unlike many participants on our trip to Alabama. In fact, I was one of the very few students who didn’t know anyone at the beginning of the week.

At GW, not knowing anyone could have been a problem. Here, you often have to find your place and stay there. The social structure at GW – with an ever growing Greek population and student organizations that can close off into cliques – means it is difficult to branch out. Alternative Breaks trips that head far away from campus challenge us to change that.

Working together to clean up tornado debris, sitting with new people at dinner and hearing each other’s honest reflections about service brought us all closer.

Instead of using social media as a shield, I met and bonded with a diverse group — students from several Greek organizations, international students, members of every class various majors. I wouldn’t have made these connections if I hadn’t gone on an Alternative Break and allowed myself to disconnect from technology and GW’s restrictive social norms.

Service is important. It’s what everyone on an Alternative Break has in common on day one. It’s the reason we meet each other in the first place. But that’s not all there is.

By ditching technology and stepping out of comfort zones, we punctured our own GW bubbles.