2020-03-21
How was your trip? Let me tell you. Let me tell you how the sun never failed to rise at 6 AM and descend behind the Andes mountains precisely twelve hours after. About the incredible view of the sunset from the small, wooden table outside of the restaurant. How I watched it almost every day,...
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2019-12-15
My seventh-grade teachers were masters at instilling the subtle power of gratitude. Trekking out into the forest on campus every Friday morning, with crazy creek chairs in one hand and a journal in the other, our class gathered for a community snack and gratitude circle, passing around carrot cake or scones while giving and accepting...
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2019-10-15
I have started to sing again. It came back slowly– at first, quietly humming the chorus of Cornelia Street to myself while peeling potatoes amid the afternoon chaos in the restaurant. Then, it grew louder and more persistent: at the table after almuerzo, in and out of the shower, while hanging my clothes on the...
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2019-10-08
Ecuador made world news last week. Subsidies on gasoline were eliminated nationwide in efforts to liberalize the fuel market and strike a deal with the International Monetary Fund. Gas prices abruptly increased. Transportation strikes broke out across the country, impacting communities and interrupting systems across the board. As a result, I have been in a...
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2019-10-01
Today, three months after my high school graduation, I jumped on a green coach bus — the most common form of transportation in my area — and started on my way to work. I peered out the curtained window, watching the thick fog fade at the mountaintops to reveal pastel blue skies at the peaks...
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2019-09-19
Eight years ago, I started collecting small moments. At first, I recorded them on a misshapen heart map in the back corner of my writer's notebook. Then, I started jotting them down on sticky notes until my moments filled mason jars. Now, I take note of these little pockets of time in a beautifully bound...
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2019-09-13
Three weeks ago today, I said goodbye to the home that raised me. Two weeks ago, I landed in Ecuador. Now, I am in my new home. Nestled in a vibrant, rural landscape about an hour away from Cuenca, surrounded by crawling clouds and majestic mountains, and slowly but surely finding a new space...
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2019-08-29
Why? After receiving this question an uncountable number of times during the summer leading up to my bridge year, I had my response down to practically a science. I plan to study International Development in college. I do not have much prior knowledge or experience, but I do know that I want to learn more....
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2019-08-19
When I was still small enough to hide behind my mom during encounters with new people and panic during school fire drills, my parents began to invite strangers to my house. Loaded with sets of panniers and powered by two wheels, gears, and their body strength, our guests would coast into our driveway on touring...
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