2016-05-25
It’s official, we are family. We took a family road trip to Quilotoa! We woke up at 5am, packed the car and hit the road around 6am. My brother, Washington, drove. In the passenger seat sat my dad, Wilson and his daughter Tiffany. My mom, my sister, and I squished into the backseat. In the...
Read More2016-03-27
As a caucasian girl from Raleigh, North Carolina, I have been fortunate enough not to have endured the annoyance of being gawked at by strangers. If I walked into a grocery store in a 17th century costume, people would probably will stare. However, the correlation between the amount of times people stare at me and...
Read More2016-02-16
*This is a speech that I gave to my Amazon cohort on January 9th, 2016* New Year’s Eve is my favorite holiday. Most years, a friend and I spend all night together until the countdown for the New Year. On December 31st, 2014, I went to downtown Raleigh with my friend, Nathan. We watched the...
Read More2015-12-21
Recently, I found a missing piece of my life. I lacked the appreciation for simple joys. For the longest time, my life was a calendar full of different colored pen marks and no blank spaces. I orbited around a schedule. I always bounced from activity to activity, with barely any breaks in between. When I...
Read More2015-10-08
Participating in a bridge year in a foreign country screams bravery. Despite my outward appearance, very often being brave is a struggle for me. Although, I am still thrilled to be a part of this immersion experience every day, it takes courage to get out of bed and go to breakfast with the eagerness...
Read More2015-09-19
“But are we all lost stars, trying to light up the dark?” During Pre-Departure Training, each morning the fellows, alumni, and staff assembled at 9 am for “Day at a Glance”. “Day at a Glance” included the daily schedule, a “Speak Up”, announcements, and a warm up activity. The most meaningful warm up was...
Read More2015-09-15
“1,2,3” “5,6,7” I said with my dance partner Andrew as we taught the Ecuador Cohort basic salsa dance steps. In our first regional cohort meeting, one of the Team Leaders asked Andrew and me to lead a salsa dance workshop. Immediately, I took the stage and began to teach. It was wonderful to be...
Read More2015-08-27
The Saturday before I left, my mom bursts into my bedroom with her phone playing one of my favorite songs “We Are The World”. However, this version wasn’t the original 1985 for Africa, or the 2010 25thanniversary for Haiti. It was called “Somos El Mundo 25 por Haiti”. It was a version...
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