Category Stories: Family Matters
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Make the Most of the Mom in your Host Mom
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Things you can’t do: One of Tennessee Williams’ most famous plays ends with a tragically self-deluded woman handed off by her only sister to a dubious mental institution as she loses the one thing she has left: a sense of dignity. As Blanche is carted away by a clearly malicious doctor, she delivers her final…
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Feeling on Top of The World, All on Your Own
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Understanding the experience of being a first generation student is difficult; sometimes it seems like all students share the same issues and emotions, and other times it feels like nobody struggles the same way “first-gens” do. Yet, being a first generation student is truly a unique experience. These students are often highly motivated on their…
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5 Ways to Survive and Thrive as a Vegetarian Abroad
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“A special note to vegetarians: vegetarians are poorly understood in Latin America, and they are often undernourished.” After reading this sentence in the IFSA-Butler housing application, I began to worry. As someone who has been mostly vegetarian all my life and fully vegetarian for over 5 years, I couldn’t help it as thoughts started running…
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How One First-Gen Student Prepared to Study Abroad
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As a First Generation student, there are many things that I have had to do for the first time. Others can ask for advice from their parents or their siblings about matters related to college life but unluckily I don’t really have that advantage. There are times when I have had to trust in the…
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Homestay: First Impressions
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It was about 7:30pm on the last Tuesday in February, and I stood nervously by the door to the apartment building in Buenos Aires. I rang the buzzer, and a woman in her sixties came to the door, smiling from ear to ear. It was Vicky, my new host mom for the next four months.…
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New Lives, New Cultures
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One month, down three to go! Time in New Zealand so far has gone by so fast and everything is so different here than it is at home. The people are so nice and fun to be around, and the landscape is amazingly beautiful. That is one thing that does remind me of home. Coming…
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Three Thousand Miles: A Strong Family Tie
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I was surprised when Google Map showed I am 3,268 miles away from home. I have never been as far away from home as I am now. My family lives only 8 miles from my college campus. Whenever I crave my mother’s cooking, want a nice shower or miss my warm and soft bed, I…
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The First Step Abroad: Being First-Gen in London
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After having both my sister and I, my mother went back to school to obtain her bachelors degree in Accounting and Management. I remember the nights spent doing homework in my father’s four-door sedan while parked at my mother’s university, one of two on the island of Jamaica, waiting for her to complete her classes…
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How a Hispanic American Made it to Ireland
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A Diverse Background As I reflect on my journey, I must begin with my family. I come from a diverse background, with my father born in Mexico and my mother born in Ecuador. Both of my parents immigrated to America at an early age and therefore never attended college. When my parents had my brothers…
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Edinburgh: 4 Friends and Their Families
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Parents worry. That’s sort of their job. Even if their son or daughter is 20 years old and hasn’t lived at home in years. Even if their child normally goes to school hundreds of miles away and there’s this thing called a cell phone that reduces that distance to almost nothing. Of course, that’s not…
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