By Diego Teixeira Setton.

As an international student, it is obvious to say that home is not exactly close. In order for me to see my parents not only is it expensive as it also takes an extensive and tiring plane trip to get back home.

So, as you would imagine, my academic experience can sometimes be a lonely one, as it’s only natural to eventually miss home and the people residing there, especially since the only time I’m able to travel back is during summer break, with all the other breaks consisting of me staying somewhere around the United States.

To me this is 100% part of my academic experience, as even though I’m technically in school, all of the experiences and meetings that I will show here are only possible because of it and wouldn’t have happened otherwise. After all, our breaks are breaks from school, which consequently make them a part of my academic experience, especially since I’m far from home.

Of course, as much as I would like to, I can’t talk about every single friend I have, so Instead I will talk about the two friends I constantly meet in my trips, and will try to not talk about how much I appreciate them, instead I will try to focus on what does meeting them means in regards to my academic experience and how they help me to get through my university years.

As you might have noticed from the description, their names are Alice and Helena, I’ve known both of them since I was six years old, so that’s at the very least, fourteen years of friendship. We studied together from from the first year of elementary school to the last year of highschool, and when the time came for us to go to college, we all ended up in the same country. Granted, they did go to New York and Chicago, two considerably more interesting places than Sioux City, but it didn’t change the fact that we were all in the same place.

By the end of our first semester in 2022 none of us where going back home, so we decide to meet up in New York City, where Helena lives, this would be the first of many amazing trips we would do, all of which would refresh me for a new semester and help me keep going.

The first one we did felt a bit surreal, you always talk about doing crazy trips with your friends but when you’re actually there it takes a while for it to click that you actually did it, It’s not like we were there for a short time either, we stayed for the whole winter break, which equates to almost a month.

Spending time with such long time friends made me feel closer to home, and to in a way, reconnect with the things I missed.

Next, I would go to Chicago to visit Alice. Helena couldn’t come this time due to monetary reasons, but the trip was fun either way. I was there for my whole Spring Break, which meant I was around for Chicago’s St.Patrick’s day, the whole party vibe also made me feel closer to home.

We also went to many sporting events, something that I really enjoyed doing when back home.

Next up was summer break, and we all went back home, which of course meant we met up again.

I won’t spend time on summer break since you can’t miss home when you’re there.

Next up is the 2023 winter break, in which we again reunited in New York City.

This time however, something else happened, I made a new friend, someone that was completely new and from a completely different culture, to whom I quickly befriended.

Morningside is small, so once you get used to your surroundings and find your friend group is difficult to branch out, which is very different from the big city life I’m used to, where meeting new people can happen at every corner and street.

Making a new friend was extremely refreshing and rejuvenating. I’ll hope I’m able to see her again someday, even though we live far away.

The last trip I did up to this point was a very special one, as we had a special visit all the way from Brazil. Another one of our lifelong friends came all the way to Chicago, Catarina, Whom I’ve known since I was two years old. Due to her visit we decided to travel during easter break instead of the usual spring break trip.

It was weird having someone I completely associate with home in the United States, but I felt like Catarina brought everyone I missed with her, it was really good to see her and we had an amazing time.

I know this might be a different attempt to a visual journal to an academic experience, but without the people shown here my academic experience wouldn’t be possible, without their support and company, I would’ve chickened out and traveled back home a long time ago.

I am know finishing my sophomore year, meaning that the half-point of the some of the best experiences of my life are already gone, especially since I plan to do a semester abroad in the beginning of 2025. Because of that, I wanted to talk about how much I appreciate my friends and how thankful I am for these trips.

We plan on meeting again during next semester’s winter break; I hope it works out.