Chizuru Uko – GW Blogs from Abroad

Até Já

AdminDecember 3, 2018December 14, 2018

Since I got back from fall break Lisbon has started to feel like home, I find myself falling into a routine here and working towards set goals. While I was away I missed a sense of home because I visited so many places and bounced from hostels to staying with friends.

It is also a bitter-sweet feeling because it is my last month in Lisbon and I am not ready to leave Portugal but I am also excited to get reconnected with my family and friends in Nigeria. I am in Nigeria only twice a year and miss being around the people I love so much. I think going to London and getting a little of the warmth and familiarity of home and travelling with my Nigerian friends also made me miss it more. However, I am very grateful for all the lifelong friends I have made here and for the experiences and actually chose to extend my time in Portugal by a week.

I am becoming so much more appreciative of the little things like having conversations with locals in Portuguese and getting to familiar places through muscle memory. Lisbon will always be a special city in my heart, I hope to be back here and spend more time here, also hoping I remain disciplined with Portuguese after Lisbon. Até já.

Through my Lens

AdminNovember 5, 2018December 14, 2018

By Chizuru Uko

I spent the past two weeks in very dramatic countries on fall break; started off in the Azores, stopped by London and ended the break in Iceland. The Azores and Iceland had slightly similar landscapes with natural hot springs, volcanoes, black sand beaches and stunning views. These places felt very different and familiar to Portugal at the same time, the more I travel and interact with people the more similar and connected I feel.

I have had a bit of a crisis with all my free time and realised that sometimes with study abroad programs that aren’t as demanding it’s so easy to get trapped in the beach, travel, live and party lifestyle that I often forget I am an unemployed senior graduating in the spring, lol. It is, however, so refreshing being able to meet people that care about how a place makes me feel more than my plans for after college. Being here is relaxing but I think it is important to remember that life is going on for people back home and that time does not stop while you’re abroad. My advice is to check in occasionally with loved ones and family and let your travels influence your decisions.

Hiking to this waterfall in Iceland made me realise how small I am in the grand scheme of things and made me stop and appreciate all the beauty around me.

This beach is better

AdminOctober 10, 2018December 14, 2018

By Chizuru Uko

Loving Lisbon has been very easy for me. In the past couple of weeks, I have had so much more free time than usual during the week. While joggling travel, learning Portuguese, building relationships I have made a mental note to spend a good chunk of time at various beaches in Portugal.

Every beach has its individual character ranging from the crowd, to the color of the water, the texture of the sand and the animals you see while snorkeling. Beach hopping has made me fall deeply in love with the ocean, I suddenly have so much respect for the waves around me and the vastness of the ocean. I didn’t realize how intense this had become till I was in a thermal bath in Budapest and got disappointed by the dullness of restricted water.

Similar to most study abroad stories, some of my top beach experiences were at islands I visited in the spur of the moment like Burlengas. Hiking to the beach and the castle here truly made me feel alive and like I was on top of the world.

I am easily a free spirit, I love meeting new people and thrive on getting to know someone with a different background. I have really struggled with this through my program because the people selected are very similar to my friends in America.

I was initially very frustrated that we only took classes together and had so many group activities to encourage group bonding. But with time I found a way to create balance, I was able to identify local communities and groups where I got to interact with other locals like my kizomba dance class and my Hillsong connect group. Taking these bold steps have been very daunting but have made it possible for me to recreate little pockets of things I like to do with people who challenge the way I think.

Defining Self

AdminSeptember 18, 2018December 14, 2018

By Chizuru Uko

I have a really interesting story with identity. On campus and almost everywhere in the world, small talk starts with “Where are you from?” and I always reply, Nigeria, because I was born in the states but spent the first 18 years of my life in Nigeria. However, 10 out of 10 times its followed with a string of questions about my American dual citizenship, how I currently live both in the US & Nigeria, sometimes it even wonders to my accent. This is conversation I have become familiar with, it’s almost a script that never goes wrong.

A couple years ago I watched a TED Talk by Taiye Selasi called “Don’t ask me where I am from, ask where I am a local” and she goes on to talk about how she is a local where she has her three R’s- Relationships, Rituals and Restrictions. Being Nigerian has always come with a source of pride, most times people are interested in the other side of the story- the beautiful local languages, history, food and nitty bitty details that makes my culture- and not the single story often portrayed in the media. Understanding this has greatly impacted me as I travel, I have an open mind about places I visit, I don’t expect any one thing from a new country, I simply try to soak in as much as possible and have conversations with locals about what life is like for them. It’s always important for me to read books about a place and watch movies set in a country to give me a better idea but I always keep in mind that it’s just one person’s version of the story.

Being abroad has also impacted my sense of self greatly, I am a lot more aware of my limits as well as my sense of curiosity. This past weekend I was in Lagos, Portugal and I paddle boarded along the coast of the Algarve’s with two friends. Looking back, it was probably one of the craziest things I’ve ever done mainly because it was me and the ocean for the first time. It was so liberating and calming stopping at private beaches. I see myself doing things I am proud of and pushing myself and this is everything I hope for. I probably don’t know as much about myself and its great being able to risk it all in a new place.