Did your global experience influence your perceptions of the United States?

I do not believe that my perception of America has completely shifted, but it has developed a lot. Prior to leaving the States, I had recently graduated Mount Holyoke College, I had spent my summer in Philadelphia, PA, and I had been feeling like I wanted to get out, get away, I was not completely happy with my temporary living conditions and location in the States and I was anxious to leave. Leaving from a predominantly Black city influenced the way that I felt about the escape I was going to embark in and the feeling that I wanted to move away from people who looked like me. Four months after I arrived in South Korea, however, I felt extremely homesick. I wanted my friends, my family, my music, my people. The very same things that I was happy to get away from several months before. Upon my return to the States my entire conscious was way more lighthearted. I find myself happier as a person. I am happy to be alive, I am happy to connect with others, I am happy to find communities of people from the African Diaspora who make me feel connected, loved, supported, and validated. It has helped me appreciate my home country because of the beauty, the boldness, the trendsetting, the brilliance, and the pride in the Black community. Something I oversaw before; something I took for granted and didn’t appreciate. It can be uncomfortable and scary to step into a world where no one looks like you or will every fully understand where you come from but at times it takes that experience to make you feel better about your own community at home.