Here and There

“[W]hat seems foreign might not be any stranger than the familiar, if [you’re] willing to look closely.”

—Eddie Huang, as quoted in Time, February 2015

I lived abroad during my junior year in college and while I received college credits for my academic work, I feel the most valuable part of my experience was exploring cultural differences. I was fascinated to be there and observe how other societies live. It was astounding to me how many commonalities I could find with someone from a completely different world. Emotions and family are two things that every human can relate to, and it was via these topics that I found the most common ground. Living abroad for eight months over 30 years ago (gulp!) still impacts me day to day. Throughout my life, I have enjoyed some amazing and valuable human connections that I may not have had.

Whether it be chatting with your local Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru server or working with a foreign-born or multilingual colleagues, you will find that everyone has a story that can teach us to better understand one other in this increasingly global community.

For anyone that already knows me, I am sure you are not surprised that the title of my first blog post is a non-English word. If you don’t know me, I hope this blog will enlighten you about language, culture, and country, including our own, y’all. This stuff brings me joy.