Adventure Time with KC

Happy Holidays! I thought I was clever when I posted a Facebook status about how it's the night before Christmas and we're all on Twitter and Snapchat and Facebook and other social media platform. Then I mindlessly browsed my news feed, until I saw that a friend shared this TedxMiddlebury talk, and it made me cry. Spoken poetry can be so powerful. Rachel is a fellow traveling with my study abroad program to ensure the students' health and well-being. In our phone conversation on Monday, she asked if I had any fears or concerns and personal goals for the program. I told her I worry/think about my role and privilege and position in relation to the people I will meet in these countries and how my role influences them. I worry about exploiting them for the benefit of my own studies. I worry that I get to see what other people live through, but have the privilege to leave that behind when a program/visit ends. I want to leave a careful and loving mark on this world, not perpe...

Since I returned home two nights ago, I've slept, ate, unpacked, and began exploring the city I call home again. In some ways, I feel like things are starting over as I settle into this winter break. I have to readjust to home life and New York City life again, I have to find something new to do this summer, and to top it off, I have to start a new academic semester with an entirely new group of strangers, traveling to new countries I have no experiences with.  I would be remiss to not mention that I intended to start things over by taking time out to study abroad for a semester. Life inside the hedges has been fulfilling, exciting, and particularly challenging. I see myself grow every semester, bigger and better as the days and weeks push me to a different level. While I'm proud of all that I've done and feel that I've used my time well, I also feel that everything I've accomplished is beginning to wear on me. Between classes, extracurricular activities, an...