Somewhere

I discovered this video today and have had it on repeat for the past hour. As an international studies/sociology major, I immediately fell in love with the vibrant faces and culture the video portrays, but there was something more. Something stronger. Something deeper that made me watch it over and over.

Those faces look like the refugees I work with every week. Those smiles look like my Jamaican kids. Skin color is irrelevant; their eyes are the same. As I watched the beaming children gather around the photographer, or the mothers smile shyly, I grew more and more homesick for "my" little Caribbean island. I miss it. I miss the long days in the clinics. I miss the quivering heat rising from the dirt roads, chickens and stray dogs wandering aimlessly about, children laughing, children crying, the tropical humidity soaking my scrubs. I miss holding dockets in one arm and a feverish baby in the other. I miss the classrooms and the tiny stubs of chalk we'd use to write the alphabet or draw imaginary animals.

It's my motivation. It's why I'm here. It's why I'm an international studies major, why I'm studying public health, why I want to do research. I've got to get back there. Maybe not Jamaica perse, but somewhere.

I've been camped out trying to write an academic CV for two different programs I'm applying to. One is an international migration research program and the other is a cross-cultural ESL certification program. Both would rock my world, I'm hoping I don't have to choose between them. Maybe I can figure it out and do both. It's hard though, trying to make yourself look good on paper...and I was starting to get burnt out. It's tedious, I've got midterms to study for, I stayed up late last night - maybe a nap would be smart, etc, etc, etc. And then I found this video.

Bam. Motivation.