and why I " cut my hair." The list literally goes on for days – 5 months and 15 days to be exact.
And although those issues previously mentioned may seem minuscule to many, studying abroad while Black had many dark days. I don ' t even want to think about the mornings I spent crying and feeling stuck while checking the news and seeing another unarmed Black person wrongfully killed by the police. This was the first time I ever felt truly hopeless and scared. Literally thousands of miles away, I was afraid I would never get to hug my family again... the shootings became that bad. I felt guilty for going away and enjoying a new country and having a new experience while my people were back home being killed for doing nothing. Something had to be done but I didn ' t know what to do. The only light in the situation was that literally that weekend after a week full of dreadful news reports, the people of Melbourne came together in the CBD( downtown) and held a protest against police brutality. My heart was filled with joy knowing that
I was not the only one affected by the horrible happenings in America, and that I was surrounded by people who not only acknowledged it but cared. It also made me happy that the friends I made wanted to become knowledgeable on Black lives in America for the simple fact that they knew and cared for me. It was so funny whenever we would play drinking games and had to choose categories, I would purposely quiz them on Black History in hopes of teaching them more about our many accomplishments and heroes.
All in all, studying abroad was a learning experience to say the least. I think being Black in America and facing everyday obstacles helped me adjust well during my time abroad, much better than my Caucasian counterpart who had a struggle completing simple tasks such as making friends. But that ' s another story for another day that doesn ' t exist. I say all this to say, get your passport sis / bro and spread the black girl magic and black boy joy across the globe!