2018-06-07
During Re-entry training, we talked a lot about telling our story. We discussed how people might not know what questions to ask, or might just want a short, generic answer without really understanding, or how people might not be interested at all. So what struck me most while doing my Capstone was how interested...
Read More2018-06-07
Though I finally made it back home I returned to something I still, after 2 months, cannot grow accustomed to. Reverse Culture shock hits you in a completely different way than any Culture Shock you might experience. It takes what was previously your everyday life, your home, your sentiments and throws it all under the...
Read More2018-06-07
This was the first journal entry I wrote upon arriving in Brazil; my first time sitting on a Brazilian beach, my first attempts to ground myself in the place and actually understand that after endless orientation we’d actually made it to country! September: I am sitting on the beach, underneath an almost full moon (it’s...
Read More2018-06-07
I left for Brazil 8 months ago without any clear idea of what to expect. Of course I had hidden expectations going in, but now that I have lived there for an extended time, it has become weirdly difficult to put myself back into my head space of the end of August to remember what...
Read More2018-06-07
Some vocabulary essential to getting through the first couple months in Brazil: Esperar! — This means to wait, and I used it ALL THE TIME with my host sister. Ficar Presa/o — This means to be stuck. This could apply to a child in the mango tree or me as I sit on the ground...
Read More2018-06-07
Pink is the color of love. Past loves and new loves, soft love and hard loves. All of which I experienced in these 8 months. Side note/interesting fact: My mom calls these flowers Hoa Giấy or “paper flowers.” These flowers are abundant on the coast of Ecuador, and reminded me of my home country and of my...
Read More2018-06-07
Coming home has always been one of my favorite feelings. I love the mountains I grew up in, I love the people that love me here, and I love the way everything goes the way I expect it to. Coming home from Brazil felt no different. I was greeted by people I loved, places I’d...
Read More