A Despedida

I’m not a very sentimental person, but saying goodbye to Lençóis and all of the people I had the pleasure of spending this time with was one of the hardest parts about my experience. Coming to Brazil was the first experience I had being abroad…

23 April, 2013

Martial Arts in Brazil

Here is a video that I made at the beginning of my time in Brazil about the different types of martial arts I have encountered. There are three different styles featured here, but there are many more that can be found throughout Brazil (one example is…

23 April, 2013

A Year of Discovery

Here’s a video I made on my time in Brazil. Special thanks to Lola Perez for providing about 90% of the photos and video that you will see (a little bit of an exaggeration, but she did contribute a lot). Enjoy!

04 April, 2013

Ear Infections and Awesome Families

Having an ear infection abroad has been one of the most intense experiences of my life. It all started with a sore throat. Though my throat was in pain, I was not worried about it at all. I thought I could take care of it…

06 March, 2013

Negão

People call me by many different names here. I originally introduced myself as “Joshua” to everyone I met, but I soon learned that the “ua” part was difficult to pronounce for some locals. Eventually I started telling people to call me “Josh”, but ending on…

15 January, 2013

Being Happy with Where You Are

After our cohort’s first training seminar I was sick. It wasn’t anything serious, but nevertheless I decided that once I got back to Lençóis I would take it easy for a little while. I have been taking jiu jitsu classes for about a month now….

11 December, 2012

Get Over Yourself

I don’t give hugs. I have a couple of reasons for this, but the main one is that I am adverse to physical contact. Coming to Brazil, I never thought that this and many other personal preferences I have would make my experience more challenging….

27 November, 2012

Being Green in Brazil

Like most developing countries, Brazil has prioritized rapid development and economic growth over sustainable practices and clean waste management. This isn’t a criticism of the country, but rather a sad reality that comes with aspiring to be an economic superpower. This fact was evident to…

17 September, 2012

My Life Trajectory

My road to taking a gap year has been a long and interesting one. I recently graduated from a private high school in Atherton, California where gap years were always presented as “Backpacking across Europe”; although gap years looked fun and exciting, I had yet…

10 July, 2012