Abroad Chronicles: “How was it?”

Since I’ve been back from Costa Rica, I have been asked a plethora of questions about my experience. With each question varying in tone and curiosity, I’ve found that many of my people just have no idea what “living” abroad actually means. At some points, I found myself overwhelmed, lost for words, and even annoyed by the general questions.

At this point, answering “How was it?” just leaves me with no other response than a prolonged “CHILEEEEE”, because it was SOO MUCH. I mean I lived in a foreign land with strangers for 33 days, do you really want to sit and listen to me try to struggle to summarize it or talk for hours, pick one.

But you know what, as I’ve been back home for the last weeks, I have reflected on the many things I went to and through while abroad. I know now, no matter how enormous the answers to curiosity, intentionally releasing my experience is essential. My trials and triumphs abroad will undoubtedly inspire, expose, and TEACH those that come across my story.

“How was it?”:

It was LIFE ALTERING. I have never felt more secure in my identity. I have made unlikely lifelong friends and possibly, lifelong enemies (we’ll get into that). There were tears of joy and sadness shed. I could and would write a book on my experience as being the only Black American, let alone a woman on a study abroad experience, accompanied by strangers, living with strangers, and navigating a new world.

Needless to say, my horizons have expanded beyond words, but I will try my best to put it into writing attached with pictures, which we know, paints 1,000 words. I’ll start with some of the beautiful people I was blessed with along the journey:

To know me is to know how much I value loving family and friends. I make it my business to regularly express my love for my community.

It really is solidified in my principles that you attract what you project. So when choosing a host family, I had faith that I would be placed with a family so open, loving, and supportive.

Even with the highest faith, I was still so unknowing of just how gracious God was when he paired me with my host family. They provided a safe space for me, even when people and forces outside of their homes were not so open and nice.

I can always say I have a Tica family as long as my host mom, sisters, and grandma exist. I can’t thank them enough, but just acknowledging how great they were at hosting me is a start. They are truly lovely people and represented Costa Ricans so beautifully.

As for my now-forever friends, Natalie & Daysi, getting to know you both we’re one of the greatest pleasures Costa Rica brought me. Remember when I said I shared tears of joy and sadness? It was with these 2 beautiful women that we all shared both.

Natalie, half-Turkish and half-American, taught me so much about the world. I will even go as far as to say that she has helped me stay consistent in reading whether she knows or not. Quiet and humble, but don’t get it confused with weak, as she is one of the wisest people I now know.

Daysi, a 1st generation American of El Salvadoran descent, she embodies what an “ally” looks like. Her bubbly spirit and “San Fran” vibes lit up my trip from the moment we met. She is a force to be reckoned with, as when she wants something, she knows how to work for it.

These brief summaries do no justice to the magnitude of my gratitude for these ladies in my life. We share everlasting memories from chilling at my host mom’s to exploring the city together, to ESCAPING A LITERAL CULT. I cannot share how my experience was without expressing my love and gratitude for the beautiful people I experienced living abroad.

All of those that I met while abroad, represent the beautiful spectrum of humankind. From my half-Chinese, half-Costa Rican host sisters, to my full-hearted Costa Rican teachers, I got the true “culture” shock I aspired to. It was the people I mentioned above, and undisclosed that made the experience. It was the fresh eats, 3 lovely host cats, and majestic tropical landscapes. It was equally the unfortunate reminders of racism and misogyny.

How was it? Beautiful, good, bad, ugly. I want to share the real with you all. I want my answer to that question to be more aligned with the reality of my experience. It was not one for the weak, but I survived it, so what does that tell you about me and others who’ve fulfilled the journey?

Follow me along this journey of sharing the details, life-long lessons, and beauties of my “Abroad Chronicles”. Next up, “What did you eat?”