Nine languages, eleven passports, seven girls

Coming to Hopkins as an international student during the pandemic, I really had no idea what to expect. We were still under some pandemic restrictions, especially on the Homewood Campus, and I had barely met anyone who would also be attending Hopkins that fall. I felt scared and a little isolated. But my parents had been insistent on me giving it a go. Specifically, I remember my dad saying that I would make a new life for myself here in Baltimore, and that the chance to live in a country like the U.S. during university would open my eyes to a whole new range of perspectives.

Like most parents, they were right. You see, growing up in Rio de Janeiro and London, you get a lot of exposure to very different people. Before coming to Hopkins, I assumed I was knowledgeable about different parts of the world — worldly, if you will — but alas, you know what they say about assuming.

All I can say is the past three and a half years at Hopkins have made me realize how I truly knew very little about all the wonderful traditions, dishes, expressions and history that exist in countries and cultures other than my own.

Before I continue, I have to give credit where credit is due. A lot of that change is due to my friends and our joint enthusiasm for sharing our respective cultures. As I was reflecting on our upcoming graduation — and wondering how I’ll get them to respond in the group chat once we’re not living in the same building — I caught myself thinking about just how many new words, religions, traditions and recipes I’ve learned about from just hanging around them. More importantly, I’ve also learned how our cultures can intersect and how we can bring together all of our traditions. So, I wanted to share with you guys some of our favorite ways to share and bring our respective heritages together. 

American Traditions with a Twist

I was a little worried about adapting to the way of life in the U.S., because it is quite different to how I grew up. I definitely didn't expect to end up liking American holidays as much as I do. This past summer, I got to experience my first Fourth of July here in the U.S., and it was incredible. On the other hand, I’ve been attending Thanksgiving since my freshman year, when my now-roommate very bravely offered to host me and another friend despite knowing us for, like, a week. Getting on the Amtrak, I had no idea what to expect from this holiday. Cut to seven days later — I didn’t want to get back on the Amtrak.

The parades, family gatherings, Thursday night football and countless flavors of pie — it was amazing. Not only did I learn the rules of football, but I also walked away feeling really privileged to be able to experience this new tradition. 

As the years went on, the three of us have started modifying our Thanksgiving traditions to include some of our own cultural heritage. For example, in our second year together, I took the girls to a Brazilian restaurant near my friend’s home and introduced them to Pasteis de Queijo. My birthday also usually falls on the week of Thanksgiving, so we often have brigadeiros and cake from the Brazilian bakeries my mom manages to track down.

Multicultural Movie Nights

This is one of my all-time favorite college traditions. If you are like me, discovering new movies or shows to watch is a bit of a challenge because you are a little picky with what you watch. But something that’s been incredible is having access to a whole new world of entertainment because my friends can help me navigate it.

One of my roommates grew up on Bollywood movies. So last year on Diwali, we sat down to watch one that she termed as a “modern classic” (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani). This started a whole trend in our household that summer to watch different movies from our cultures together; it was honestly so much fun. When I went home in August, I showed some of them to my mom, who is now passing them along to her friends.

We’ve also branched out into shows in completely new languages — one of our other friends has suggested shows in Spanish, while I’m trying to get everyone to watch this French movie that I became obsessed with during the summer, Nothing to Hide, or Le Jeu in French.

Expressions and Cultural Traditions

Recently, I was eating dinner at our apartment, and another one of my roommates offered us rice but made us promise to eat every last grain. When we asked her about this, she revealed that it was a practice in her culture (she’s Japanese) to ensure that you ate all of the rice to respect the fact that it was once a living thing and that it took a lot of work for the farmer to harvest that crop.

This got me thinking of all the traditions and language expressions that I’ve picked up by just being around my friends. And to be honest, it has made me even more thankful than I was before (I didn’t know that was possible) about my decision to come to Hopkins. As we approach graduation, I am so incredibly thankful for all that my friendships have taught me about the world. 

Julia Mendes Queiroz is a senior from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil majoring in Economics and International Studies. She is a Sports Editor for The News-Letter.