The Light - An Alumni Publication Summer 2015 | Page 20

FACES OF YFU
Morell and her host sister Anita, in front of Cuicocha in Cotacachi, Ecuador, 2010.

MALLORY MORELL
PROGRAM: Germany 2003; Ecuador 2005
OCCUPATION: Acquisition Geophysicist, BP
HOME: Houston, TX

LIFE LESSONS:

Morell and her host sister Anita, in front of Cuicocha in Cotacachi, Ecuador, 2010. 

Pieces of Exchange

The most important life lesson I learned during
my year abroad was accepting people as they are. My
first host sister and I did not get along well. To her,
everything was cute, her favorite color was pink, she
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absolutely adored the stuffed animals she received
for her birthday, liked to talk in a baby voice, and her
greatest aspiration was to be a model. She was also
17 years old, in her last year of school and was very
intelligent. The day before I changed host-families, my

first host-mom and I had a one-on-one, all-cards-onthe-table conversation. Among other things discussed,
the traits of my host-sister were brought up. She looked
me right in the face and said “That is Gaby. Like it
or not, that is who she is.” This candid conversation
helped me reevaluate how I thought about people — a
lesson I’ve kept with me throughout the years. ■
Morell