{"id":10508,"date":"2018-01-06T01:40:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T06:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.rollins.edu\/wpsites\/letters\/?p=10508"},"modified":"2019-07-09T18:19:04","modified_gmt":"2019-07-09T18:19:04","slug":"what-do-you-have-on-tap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/2018\/01\/06\/what-do-you-have-on-tap\/","title":{"rendered":"What do you have on tap?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I sit here at Washington Dulles International Airport I realize it is a great place to reflect before I leave for London for 5 months. I have my girlfriend here with me who was willing to accompany me for the first 2 weeks as I get settled at Queen Mary University of London in East London. There are all different types of people walking by in a rush to make their respective flight. It may seem simple but it\u2019s true: there are all different kinds of people everywhere. Especially when leaving the United States. I\u2019m excited to experience that to a whole different degree in the UK.<\/p>\n

It brings me back to our pre-departure orientation at Rollins. It was familiar and comfortable just like many aspects of the US. I must expect these next few months to feel anything but. I\u2019ll be more than 4,000 miles away from home for an extended period for the first time ever and I will face moments where my cultural awareness is put to the test. My previous experiences traveling to Mexico and Colombia have helped me understand that international experiences fall into their own category of behavior. It\u2019s made me realize that being an American can carry significant weight and we practically carry a responsibility to not make our home country seem internationally ignorant like much of the world assumes that we are.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Before I left I acknowledged certain roles I identified myself such as brother, son, student and Hispanic. I intend to strengthen these relationships by keeping in constant communication with my family and friends and keeping them in tune with what international travel and those interactions with others from around the globe is like. I\u2019ve felt influenced by previous experiences to become an example and a helping hand. A role I am all too comfortable and happy to fill. Side note: I could not anticipate how many steps leaving the country for almost half a year involved. If anyone is reading this and is preparing to leave for your own, I implore you to begin packing, buying, preparing and saying your goodbyes sooner rather than later. It\u2019s crucial to your sanity. But here I am typing this blog post at the airport bar in need of a drink\u2026.or pint as they say in London. So, here\u2019s to five months across the pond just learning and growing. Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I sit here at Washington Dulles International Airport I realize it is a great place to reflect before I leave for London for 5 months. I have my girlfriend here with me who was willing to accompany me for the first 2 weeks as I get settled at Queen Mary University of London in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":340,"featured_media":10925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qmul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14155,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10508\/revisions\/14155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}