Amherst College Global Education Blog
My brown is not Brazilian brown. In fact, my brown is not even brown here. I am considered white with a foreign tan, and every day that tan is fading as fall slips into winter. I realized I was white for the first time while eating dinner with a local friend, when she asked me if I identified as ‘Latina’.
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Leaving Berkley for our 22-hour trek to Malawi felt for the most part surreal. Partly because of the extremely immersive and busy schedule we’d had in the Bay Area, I had almost forgotten we wouldn’t be spending the entire semester there. It was difficult to wrap my head around the fact that we would be traveling with only each
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When I hear the bubbly friendly smiley Swiss flight attendant and I see the playfulness of him giving out different stickers, coloring books, and trinkets to children on the airplane during pre-departure, I know that I have left Prague and that I have left the Czech Republic before the plane has lifted off the ground. I can’t recall encountering such
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As I enter my last two weeks of the semester, I feel a mix of emotions. Even though I’m sure I will still be processing this fact after I leave, I realized the other day that I have lived in Cuba for an entire academic year. That also means I have lived in one of the most restricted countries
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After nearly two semesters studying in Cuba, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn about and take part in many amazing aspects of Cuban culture. While two semesters is not nearly enough to fully understand a different space and context, it has given me a more detailed snapshot than I would have had otherwise. One of the most interesting experiences I’ve
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As I begin to write this I imagine what this post would have looked like if the murder had not happened. I would have probably focused on writing about the silly activities underclassmen are subjected to during the first weeks of college–like using buckets as backpacks. I might have written about the oddities of young Brazilians’ vernacular, where every sentence
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I knew study abroad would be a great opportunity for me to learn how to admit and recognize all the things I don’t know. What I wasn’t expecting was that I would get lots of great practice learning to say “I don’t know” before I even departed for my program. After learning about my admission to the IHP Rethinking Food
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In a recent excursion with my program we went to Kraków, Poland. During my stay I didn’t venture that for from the town center, which is actually at least a mile long from the north to the south end. The space is packed with tourists, some locals, food shops, history, old churches and architecture. When I first got
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It’s weird to think that this is about the time that Amherst students have their spring break. I’m eagerly awaiting mine which comes in the middle of April; apparently we are going on a cross-country trip to Santiago de Cuba! Until then, I’ve been finding little ways to make my semester full of new experiences. Recently, I have taken to
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Though I do miss me a good ol’ American breakfast with things like eggs and bacon and toast with butter and jam and maybe pancakes and breakfast sausage or perhaps oatmeal with some raisins along with some butter and brown sugar or an omelette (which actually I usually don’t like) or some French toast…mmm…the yummness of French toast does
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