Now that I have the chance to reflect about my experience with WAGSFP I have come to a conclusion that being homesick is real.
I would say research in general is isolating and lonely work. Then adding on being away from home doubles your isolation and loneliness. Honestly, my cohort, the seminars, Elizabeth Kupser, my research team, and my mentor (Professora Cotera) are what have helped me the most during these past couple of weeks during the program. Everyone has been so helpful, welcoming, respectful, and have constantly made me smile/laugh (which helps when being homesick). It took me a long time to accept being homesick is real because I thought it was not, but it is!
Being homesick means the following to me:
Greeting my family and friends with hugs and kisses. Seeing the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe everywhere I go. The paleteros passing by my uncles street. Hearing roosters wake me up in the morning. The ocean. Walking down the street and hearing people listen to rancheras or banda. Being able to visit my family and leave with a bag full of tangerines, pomegranates, guayabas, nopales, or eggs from their backyard. Eating frijoles, chile, arroz, and tortillas for lunch and dinner. Braiding my cousins hair. Dying my sisters hair every other week. Hearing everyone speak Spanish around me. Street food vendors outside waiting to sell to the ones attending Sunday mass. Beautiful murals. Las Pulgas. The food. My community. My family.
However, being homesick is an opportunity for growth! Everyone/thing I miss shows how much my community back at home mean to me and how I have realized how I have taken it for granted. Everything I miss means something about me and about being an academic that I am still trying to figure out, but hopefully will be able to make sense of this one day.
Overall, I have cherished the opportunity to be here because I have met such incredible, inspirational, and amazing human beings that have contributed to my growth and have opened up different opportunities/perspectives to take back home. I am thankful to be here and I am looking forward to begin writing about my research for the Chicana Por Mi Raza project and present my work during symposium.