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 for such a long period of time. This lack of…

23 April, 2013

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 Jiu Jitsu, which I discovered after making this video). Enjoy!

23 April, 2013

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

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 with a combination of cough drops, tea and over-the-counter medication….

06 March, 2013

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 the “sh” sound was hard for a lot of people…

15 January, 2013

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. I just bought a jiu jitsu kimono from Salvador before…

11 December, 2012

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. For example, it’s very common in Brazil to greet someone…

27 November, 2012

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 me during my time in Salvador da Bahía, the third…

17 September, 2012

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 to hear a story that justified putting college on hold…

10 July, 2012