Adventures of Living Abroad

I recently finished watching the 3 seasons of Modern Family on Netflix and was browsing in search of my next series to watch. I stumbled upon Ted Talks and was pleasantly surprised when the first video was one I had watched, and forgotten about, a few years ago while taking a graduate class at SJU. Her message in this video is so powerful that I wanted to share it on here. Enjoy :)  Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Last Saturday, my fellow American and Canadian coworkers and I gathered for our annual Thanksgiving dinner. Last year I was unable to attend due to a dance performance, but this year I was free! It is still so weird to me that it is November and I am sweating in the heat!  Everyone brought a dish to share and we even were able to find a frozen turkey here!  The food was delicious and it reminded us all of home. After dinner, while trying to digest our food before we attacked the dessert table, we all gathered around the pool to share what we were thankful for. Apparently it is a tradition that has been in place for the past few years. It was so touching to hear everyone share what they were thankful for and what their wishes were for the year to come.  As I sat there soaking up the warm sunshine and enjoying the cool water on my feet, I couldn't help but feel thankful for so much. Of course I didn't share all of these things out loud, but I was definitely t...

I can't believe it has been over a month since my last blog post. I have often thought of posting, but just couldn't seem to find the time or energy to do so. I have been doing a lot of thinking in the past few weeks about my life and what my future goals should be. It has taken a lot of thought, but I finally feel like I am making the decision that will make me the happiest.  When I arrived back to Brazil in July I was sure that I would stay for another year. I was set on giving myself a year of "calm" and a year of no major life changes, but I soon felt very unhappy. It took weeks of talking to friends and reflecting to come to the conclusion that this is not a place I want to stay. Although I love Brazil, I am not happy at school for many reasons that I will not get into right now. So much for a year of just calmness...It's time to get ready for another big life change...new country...new continent....here I come. This was definitely not an easy decision for...