2018-09-27
I can’t believe that it has been about a month since I have left the United States to spend a year in Ecuador, living with a host family, learning Spanish, and working with a local organization in my new community. After leaving Pennsylvania, I spent a week at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, for...
Read More2018-09-26
I don’t remember exactly how I heard about the idea of taking a gap year, but I do remember that once I learned about it, I felt a sincere need to do it. I grew up in an international household, speaking multiple languages and having family in various parts of the world that granted me...
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2018-09-26
Dig for the Roots What is it about this land? I saw a dragon born of evening clouds bow its great head as it lost its way in the pink smoke of the bat streaked sky It is what remains of the natural here, stretches its wings over lands lost to cement and the well-manicured...
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2018-09-26
About a month ago, I moved half a world away. 1400(+) miles from everyone and everything I know. The transition from life in McMinnville, Oregon to life in Urcuqui, Imbabura has been challenging to navigate. Some moments, I feel like I’m living in a dream state. That this world I’m living in is nothing but...
Read More2018-09-26
It is impossible to imagine how your life will change before it actually does. You throw yourself in, full of ideas and images of a world beyond your own, yet devoid of actual knowledge of what exists. Before the jump, changing everything seems purely adventurous — even glamorous. Yet, I have found that the landing...
Read More2018-09-25
Let’s talk about comparisons. I have spent a majority of my life entangled in this never-ending cycle of “he’s smarter than me”, “she’s faster than me”, “they’ll go to a better school than me”, and any other he/she/they is please fill in the blank here than me. It’s funny because everyone says not to compare...
Read More2018-09-23
Have you ever read the article called “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”? It unveils our innate bias and tendency to assume that there are always “others”. When in reality we all stem from the same tree of life. I am in a new land. I have been given a new name, a new family, a...
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