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:

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?”