The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan in Color
Monday, November 26, 2018— 3A

Nestled in the dirt, under the roots 
of a date tree
Half of my heart waits
Calling out to me desperately
 
I’m walking, earbuds in
Down the streets of a city I don’t 
think wants me 
 
My feet hit the pavement to the 
rhythm of music 
In words that aren’t my mother 
tongue
 
While my mother’s tongue struggles 
to pronounce the words that make 
up this new land
Hard L’s and unrolled R’s and 
sounds that warp her name
Twisting, turning, tangling until 
they weave something that makes 
the most familiar parts of herself 
seem like strangers
And
 
I wonder if
Home sounds the same to her in 
this other language
In this other world
Where neighbors are distant and 
the family that moved with her is 
the only proof of the dusty streets 
she used to live on 
Where golden shrines that used 
to dot the city, like glimpses into 
heaven 
Were filled with throngs of people, 
crushing together to get closer to 
God, to each other, to the promise 
of forever
And if the only promises she knows 
now are the ones that were never 
kept
 
I wonder if
My father hunched and shoveling 
the mounds of snow that taunt him 
every winter
Remembers the feeling of the desert 
that used to warm his feet
As he played soccer, shooting goals 
the way he later had to shoot guns 

If every time he watches the 
news, he remembers the feeling of 
shrapnel piercing his chest, or
If, every time he bites into American 
fruit,
He remembers the fruit picked 
fresh off the tree of his family home, 
sweet juices dribbling down his 
chin
And tastes the nostalgia
 
I wonder if 
Every time the words of their 
mother language die on their 
tongues, my siblings are reminded 
of the graveyard their mouths have 
become
Or if they are homesick for a home 
they’ve never set foot in,
If they set a seat at the table for 
the distant relative who will never 
come
And stare at the empty seat and feel 
an anger as consuming as the wars 
that tore their homeland apart,
Wars that left their parents walking 
on the earth as strangers
Floating between two worlds
Always islands 
I wonder if they still know that love 
isn’t always a four-letter word
Or that words can say things, but 
they can’t feel things
That the ache in their chest from 
missing something makes it real 
And that, just because something is 
missing, doesn’t mean it’s gone,
 
I wonder if I —
The music stops
Underneath the palm tree, half of 
my heart is wailing,
Railing against its earthen confines 
But its voice is muffled against the 
dirt
“Come back to me,” it begs
But I am deaf to its noise
 
I press play again and keep walking 
in the wrong direction
Contemplating homesickness in the 
wrong language

Longing

AYAT ALTAMIMI

MiC Contributor

How did you hear about 

your internship?

The 
Human 
Rights 

Campaign has always been an 
organization I have wanted to 
work in, either for an internship 
or for a career. As for my specific 
position, I actually didn’t go 
through the typical application 
process. I connected through 
an alum who happened to be 
the internship manager and she 
was kind enough to take me into 
her department! So, for half of 
my internship, I worked under 
her as the Pride and Events 
Intern and as the Outreach and 
Engagement Intern under a 
different supervisor.

What made you want to 

apply?

When 
I 
started 
my 

sophomore year, I came in with 
the goal of interning with a 
major non-profit for summer 
2018 and interning with a 
major corporation for summer 
2019. For choosing my non-
profit, I wanted to intern for 
an organization that not only 
grew me professionally but also 
broadened my understanding 
of society and how I operate in 
it. I identify as a heterosexual 

cis-gender Black woman, and 
it has been an informative and 
transformational 
experience 

uncovering the privileges that 
I have been navigating in my 
daily life. While 
I 
have 
many 

thoughts 
on 

navigating life as 
a Black woman, 
I 
have 
not 

reflected enough 
on 
how 
my 

more privileged 
identities, 
such 

as 
my 
sexual 

orientation, 
play 
an 
equal 

role in shaping 
how I navigate 
the 
world. 

Additionally, 
I 

wanted to find 
more 
strategic 

ways to combat 
homophobia 
in 
the 
Black 

community 
as 

it is still an issue that plagues 
Black culture. 

What are your favorite 

memories 
from 
your 

experience?

My 
favorite 
experience 

from 
my 
internship 
was 

the Washington, D.C. Pride 
Festival. Under my internship 

title, 
my 
responsibilities 

included 
planning 
and 

overseeing the logistics of pride 
festivals all over the nation. 
It was an amazing experience 

to be able to see 
both the behind-
the-scenes 
work 
behind 

pride 
festival 

participation 
and the physical, 
colorful 
manifestation of 
months’ work. I 
had so much fun 
and I loved being 
able to enjoy the 
music, 
dancing 

and 
diverse 

representation of 
experiences that 
are 
frequently 

dismissed 
and 

ignored 
during 

other 
festival 

environments.

What 
is 

the 
culture 
like 
where 

you interned? Any advice 
for 
prospective 
interns 

interested in non-profits?

Imagine 
the 
type 
of 

workplace 
that 
your 
high 

school pushed onto you as an 
explanation for enforcing the 
school dress code. Now imagine 

the opposite. That is the culture 
at HRC. In the 90-degree heat, 
HRC 
prioritized 
employee 

comfort over rigid dress code 
systems. I was able to do my key 
work responsibilities in shorts 
and sneakers. I appreciated how 
HRC trusted their employees 
to know when to dress up and 
when to dress down.

The work culture also made 

sure to prioritize active over 
passive action. Multiple times 
my job called for dropping 
my work and heading to the 
Supreme Court and the Capitol 
to 
protest 
unjust 
politics. 

The work was challenging 
and 
emotionally 
draining, 

but it is imperative that large 
organizations such as HRC 
have an active field experience.

I would encourage anyone 

who 
wants 
to 
intern 
at 

non-profits 
to 
utilize 
(the 

University 
of) 
Michigan’s 

large 
alumni 
network 
and 

just reach out yourself! I got 
this incredible internship by 
networking on LinkedIn, and 
if I can do it, anyone else can as 
well! I would also invite anyone 
to contact me at any time with 
any additional questions they 
have about HRC. I would be so 
happy to answer.

Finding my dream job: Interning 
in a nonprofit in Washington D.C.

NA’KIA CHANNEY

MiC Senior Editor

This past summer, I went on a 

Global Intercultural 

Experience 
for 

Undergraduates study abroad 
service trip to Cusco, Peru. To be 
completely honest, I chose this 
country mainly because I wanted 
to see Machu Picchu and because 
I’ve always wanted to go to South 
America as well. I didn’t really 
know much about Peru or Cusco 
prior to getting into the program 
and attending the learning team 
meetings.

The work we were doing on 

this trip involved getting up 
early every day, a lot of mud and 
a lot of manual labor. Still fresh 
in my mind are the squeals of 
the guinea pigs and the chirps 
of the baby chicks that we had to 
try not to step on while working 
inside people’s homes in the rural 
mountainside of Peru. Other vivid 
memories I have are throwing up 
on buses, hearing my groupmates 
throwing up on buses, nights 
in the San Jose Clinic with an 
IV attached to my arm and 
headaches so strong I thought I 
might faint. Of course, that’s not 
what I chose to showcase on my 
social media, but a lot of the times 
it was not easy. Between the high 
altitude and the freezing nights, 

and half of our group contracting 
salmonella, I can’t say we didn’t 
experience 
hardships 
during 

this trip. I’m not going to lie and 
say it was all glamorous and 
Instagram, travel-blog worthy. 
I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t 
have a few mental breakdowns, 
go to sleep shivering under 
several blankets riddled with 
homesickness or daydream about 
Arabic food.

What 
I’m 

also not going 
to do is gush 
about how this 
experience 
made 
me 
so 

much 
more 

thankful 
for 

what I have, 
because 
that 

was 
not 
the 

purpose of this 
trip. 
Before 

embarking, a lot 
of our learning 
team meetings 
stressed 
the 
importance 
of 

abandoning the “white savior” 
mentality and not going in 
with the intention of “fixing” 
a community that was doing a 
perfectly fine job at making a 
life for themselves. The purpose 
of this trip was to become fully 
immersed in a country and its 
culture, to partake in a mutually 
beneficial 
relationship 
and 

to work with a community to 

better their conditions while 
simultaneously 
learning 
and 

gaining 
firsthand 
experience 

in a culture a world away from 
our own. Most of the time I was 
there, I felt as though I was the 
one that needed help or guidance, 
not the other way around.

However, my time in Peru 

did provide me with countless 
worthwhile 
memories 
and 

valuable 
insights. 

While the language 
barrier 
often 

made it difficult to 
understand 
each 

other, I learned that 
communication 
transcends 
verbal 

expression. 
The 

universal languages 
of 
compassion, 

kindness 
and 

hospitality seeped 
through the cracks 
of broken Spanish 
and 
confused 

pauses. I felt it 

when the locals in the homes we 
worked in brought us potatoes 
and popcorn and rushed to get us 
mud and rocks when we ran out. 
I felt it when my 7-year-old host 
sister hugged me after I walked 
in the door at night and when 
my host mom put a jar of olives 
on the dining table every day 
after learning I liked olives. I felt 
it when taxi drivers tried their 
best to converse with me using 

slow, simple Spanish, trying their 
best to understand me and learn 
where I was from and what I was 
doing in Peru. Being the only 
visible Muslim in seemingly the 
entire country made me nervous 
and self-conscious at times, and 
while I certainly felt out of place, 
I never once felt unwelcomed.

People always say studying 

abroad changes your life. I don’t 
know if my trip “changed my life” 
per se, but it definitely changed 
me. It made me more adaptable, 
more equipped to deal with 
uncomfortable 
situations 
and 

being unsure. It gave me amazing 
friends that I wouldn’t have 
met otherwise. It allowed me 
to basically live like a local for a 
month, becoming fully immersed 
in this country by learning 
about its history and interacting 
with its people. It challenged 
me to adapt to an unusual 
setting rather than expecting 
my surroundings to adapt to 
me, as Americans often do. I 
think everybody should study 
abroad at some point in their 
undergraduate career, if able to. If 
it does anything, it changes your 
perspective on travel and being a 
tourist, volunteer, voluntourist or 
whatever it may be. My advice to 
anyone who is going on a service 
trip or study abroad experience 
is to take all the expectations 
you have prior to embarking 
on the trip and dispose of them 
entirely. It is best to go in with a 
fresh mind and open heart, ready 
to take on whatever challenges 
and triumphs the country and 
your program throw at you. Be 
open, be present, be respectful 
and mindful, try to learn and 
practice the language while 
you’re there, show gratitude, 
show 
humility. 
Remember 

that what distinguishes you 
from just an average, mindless 
tourist is your desire to truly 
learn about and understand the 
place you are in — its history 
and cultures and traditions and 
people and struggles. Remember 
your experience is partly what 
is planned on your agenda and 
mostly 
the 
unfiltered, 
raw, 

beautiful 
moments 
that 
no 

camera can capture. And also, 
don’t forget to buy at least one 
cheesy tourist sweater.

Study abroad: A whole world away

MAYA MOKH

Assistant MiC Editor

This past summer, LSA senior 

Zainab Bhindarwala spent a 
month in Prague, Czech Republic 
taking a class on Nationalism, 
Minorities and Migrations in 
Eastern Europe through the 
program “CGIS: Cross-Cultural 
Psychology in Prague, Czech 
Republic.”
How did you hear about this 
study abroad program?

The CGIS newsletter.

What made you want to apply?

The title of the class drew me 

in. I’ve never been particularly 
interested 
in 
traveling 
to 

Europe, and I knew very little 
about the Czech Republic prior 
to this experience. I applied to 
this program hoping the class 
would help me with the thesis 
I’m writing this year.
What is your favorite memory 
from your experience?

One of my favorite memories 

from this trip is when a couple 
of us ended up having lunch 
with our professor. Getting to 
know her and learning about 
Czech culture outside of our 
classroom 
setting 
was 
so 

interesting. We saw a new part 
of the city and talked about the 
differences between Czech and 
American cultures. I loved that 
my professor never questioned 
that I was American. She asked 
all of us questions about the 
United 
States 
without 
any 

hesitation or assumption that 
I would know less than my 
white peers or that I would 
have a different experience than 
them. After spending 20 years 
convincing people in my own 
hometown that I was indeed an 
American just like them, it was 
refreshing not to have to prove 
it with every sentence and every 
action. I didn’t think someone 
assuming I was American and 
not questioning it would affect 
me that much, but it did.
Was there anything that you 
struggled with during your 
study abroad?

Ramadan started while I was 

in Prague. I knew Ramadan 
and my study abroad program 

would overlap when I applied 
to the program, and I honestly 
wasn’t too concerned — I knew 
I would be back home for most 
of the month, and I wouldn’t 
really be missing any major 
nights of prayer. It wasn’t until 
the first day of Ramadan came 
that I realized exactly how 
much I missed being around 
my family during this time. 
For the first time in my entire 
life, I didn’t hear and say the 
phrases “Ramadan Mubarak” 
to countless people. In fact, 
thousands of miles away, in 
Prague, nobody wished me at all. 
Of course, I called my parents, 
and we wished each other over 
the phone and I got texts from 
family members and some non-
Muslim friends wishing me a 
happy Ramadan, but it was so 
different from actually hugging 
someone, 
saying 
“Ramadan 

Mubarak,” and asking them to 
pray for you as you promised 
to do the same for them. Even 
though these things were just 
tradition and not actually part 
of religious prayers, the feeling 
of community is what I missed 
the most.
Any advice for prospective 
students 
interested 
in 

studying abroad?

Look at all the study abroad 

offerings — don’t skim over 
any program because you’re 
not interested in visiting that 
country. A lot of people choose 
their study abroad programs 
based off where they want to 
travel to. I did the opposite. I 
applied to this program because 
the class sounded interesting 
— even though it was nowhere 
close to the region I was actually 
interested in traveling to. Even 
though this decision could have 
gone horribly wrong, it ended 
up being such an incredible 
experience for me! In the 
short time I was in Prague, I 
learned so much about myself 
and a whole region of the world 
I never really paid attention to. 
Don’t limit yourself by sticking 
with what’s safe and somewhat 
familiar. Take the plunge and 
go somewhere unexpected — 
you might be surprised by what 
you find there.

Summer in Prague

ZAINAB BHINDARWALA

MiC Senior Editor

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MAYA MOKH

“My time 
in Peru did 
provide me 

with countless 

worthwhile 
memories”

Interested in becoming a part of Michigan in Color next semester? 

Email michiganincolor@umich.edu for more information!

“While I have 
many thoughts 
on navigating 
life as a Black 
woman, I have 
not reflected 
enough on my 
more privileged 

identities”

