Ready, steady, GO! - My first impressions of Fulbright

Excitement and tiredness have equally defined this almost full first week in Chico, California. A tornado of events and busy schedules that have been leaving behind only feelings of happiness and gratitude. From meeting new local people and international collegues to challenge myself more than I have in years, I feel like I'm alredy learning tons. 

Talking to people is my favorite activity. I'm absolutely adoring hanging out with new people and making friends. I've always known I'm and extrovert and a people's person but this experience is taking it to the other level. So what can I say? How can I talk about first impressions without talking about the amazing people here? 

Mai, from Vietnam. Sweet, clean and probably the best roommate I could've asked for. 

Isaac, from Ghana, so much fun, likes dancing. Always coming up with new and exciting ways of capturing moments together. 

Abhi, from India, high energy, great at organizing all of us, makes jokes!

Tripti, also from India. She probably has the prettiest smile I've ever seen. She's super creative. 

Nataliia, from Ukraine. She's strong and has a lot of resilience. She is here to grow and be the best version for her students and I think that's beautiful.  

Sarra, from Algeria. So smart and ambitious. She has the best English out of all of us.

Shadrack, so naively quirky and genuinely funny. Passionate about his country, Tanzania. 

Valerie, from Ecuador. Outgoing and friendly. Very funny, a true Latin sister. 

Bersy, from Dominican Republic. We share a lot of the same Christian values. Loves Jesus and dancing. She's kind and generous.

Imalka, from Sri Lanka So likable and a little quirky. She makes cute hand gestures when she talks. Shes open to new experiences. I love her musicly accent. 

Francis, from Burkina Faso. Also the prettiest smile I've even seen, male version. He's our "group selfie tower". One of the highs of being the tallest, no pun intended. 

Salou, from Niger. He's centered and rightgeous. Family oriented and smart. Very eager to learn more and exchange useful life experiences. 

Margaret, from Myanmar. Her other name is Honey and I could end her description here, you wouldn't need any more explaining. She's cute, sweet and quiet. She randomly gave me a hug the other day, I didn't even know myself I needed it until she did so. 

Ulbike, from Kazahastan. My God, she's gorgeous. A true model. I know she's kinda like an influencer online and she surely looks like one! She's also very pleasant to talk too and speaks great English imo!

Semakor, also from Ghana. So much fun. She's always smiling ready for a good time. She has a very cute contageous giggle, the Sem signature, impossible not to love it. 

Marharyta, from Belarus. She's good at following instructions and to the point. She is probably very organized. All in all, someone you would want on your team. 

Pashupati, from Nepal. Creative, kind and talented. He cares about giving everyone here a great time. I think he's naturally a giver. 

Shanu, from Malawi. He and I have lots in common and I think that's beautiful when we come from such different places. We're both unmarried but with a kid, we both share a passion for working out and we both love music. He plays the guitar and I sing. Amazing to find a sort of "double" from the other side of the world. 

Tamir, from Mongolia. She's kind, quiet and polite. Overall a very nice person who I'm hoping I can learn a lot from. 

Pauline, from Kenya. She gave a beautiful bracelet from her country, I love it. She's into shopping! I hope we can do some shopping together one day. She's outgoing and chatty, like myself. I like her a lot!

Joceline, from Cameroon. I admire her becuase I know everything in here is so new to her and yet I have not once heard her complain. I think she's brave and faithful.

Yari, from Chile. I feel I've found a friend for life in Yari. My favorite person in the program by far. She's so kind, funny, cheerful, caring, passionate about her job, and her friends, and her family! I feel as if I had known Yari for years. I'm so so blessed we're walking down this path together. What a great gift God has given me through Yari! Although I am a positive and always-see-the-good-side-of-things type of person, Yari has made me feel at home even though I'm not home and I constantly miss my family. She's already been there for me in my moments of vulnerability, she alone has seen me struggle, even when no one else realized it. 

Storytime

Now to illustrate Yari's amazingness. Picture this: were first being shown into our rooms, and the manager was giving us the tour of the hotel. 23 of us, Tomba, the manager of the hotel and an intern. Second day, me and Yari didn't really know each other by then, we've only crossed a few words here and there, like I had done with almost everybody else. Mine's and Mai's room was picked up for demonstration on how things worked... Now, I'm a clean freak who suffers from anxiety. So you can imagine that having more than 20 people touching the stuff I was later gonna cook in, eat in or sleep on wasn't exactly a pleasant experience for me. And btw, I wanna clarify people were doing nothing wrong. This was a me problem. Everyone was very polite and kind, and no one stepped out of boundaries. But because of my own mental health and my obsession with organization and cleaniness I was triggered. Now, I have always been good at hiding it from people, I've lived most of my adult life dealing with anxiety and sleep depravation. So nobody noticed (sigh of relieve) or so I thought... because Yari did. She somehow could tell and she reached out to me for support. Again, this was DAY TWO and only a few scattered interaction between us had taken place, but she somehow already knew my heart. That's how special Yari is. She's family here.