2012-04-17
Two weeks ago, I cried as I took my daily multivitamin. I’m not the kind of person who has trouble taking pills, and despite the size of my vitamins, I can usually get them down pretty easily. The last time I can remember crying about taking pills was when I was three or four and...
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2012-04-02
Ecuador has tugged at my heartstrings plenty of times. I still remember how I felt the first time (and the second and the third… and maybe the fiftieth too) I saw the views from Pimampiro. When my little host brother told me that he loved me for the first time, I smiled from ear to...
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2012-03-28
At 10:30 on Thursday morning, with my head hung in defeat and the fresh bag of bread still in my hands, I turned around to head home. After spending thirty minutes knocking on every door in the neighborhood and talking to as many neighbors as possible, I decided to save my mission for another day....
Read More2012-03-28
I spent part of yesterday afternoon raking leaves into plastic bags. As pieces crunched underfoot, the smell of freshly fallen leaves wafted through the air. Ah, the start of autumn. But wait. I’m in Pimampiro, Ecuador, where springtime is eternal and the only real season change comes with the rain. In fact, the leaves that...
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2012-02-09
I spent part of yesterday afternoon raking leaves into plastic bags. As pieces crunched underfoot, the smell of freshly fallen leaves wafted through the air. Ah, the start of autumn. But wait. I’m in Pimampiro, Ecuador, where springtime is eternal and the only real season change comes with the rain. In fact, the leaves that...
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2011-12-23
In my family, we have a tradition of making and eating foods from different countries every Thanksgiving. Last year, we did Mediterranean and the year before that, Ethiopian. Although our tradition is to not follow tradition, Thanksgiving is always an important holiday during which we take time to appreciate all that we have. This past...
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2011-12-08
At 10:30 on Thursday morning, with my head hung in defeat and the fresh bag of bread still in my hands, I turned around to head home. After spending thirty minutes knocking on every door in the neighborhood and talking to as many neighbors as possible, I decided to save my mission for another day....
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2011-11-07
I didn’t expect to get so close to my host family in Quito. Before arriving, I figured I would spend some quality time with them during my training and then move on to my longer home-stay with little trouble. This is not what happened at all. After a month with my wonderfully helpful and incredibly...
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2011-09-15
Eleven days ago, as I settled in for my first night with my wonderful host family, I sat down with my two sisters to talk. As I stumbled through some barely cohesive Spanish sentences, they listened patiently and nodded their heads in encouragement. After a mostly successful conversation about our respective high schools and pets,...
Read More2011-07-05
Like many high school seniors, I spent this past fall writing essays, filling out transcript requests, and entering my personal information on the Common Application. For one of my essays, I had to write about the best piece of advice I had ever received. I discussed the inspiration that I take from of one of...
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