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”