Emily Soule

Emily is a proud graduate of the International Baccalaureate Program, and has always had a desire to better understand the world. After visiting South Sudan to work with Hope and Resurrection Secondary School in 2012, she became acutely aware of the power of knowledge and the universality of the human spirit, inspiring her to take a Global Citizen Year. She is grateful for the love and support she has received from her friends and classmates before spending this next year abroad.

Samé

Emily Soule

2013-05-08

This blog is supposed to address my personal experiences here in Ecuador as a young American abroad; however, for this particular entry I wish to share two poems written this year about two different locations in Ecuador – the town of Samé and the capital of the province of Sucumbios. I hope you enjoy! In...

Ecuador’s Presidential Election and Correa

Emily Soule

2013-03-06

On February 17th, 2013, Ecuador concluded their Presidential Election with the obvious victor in the form of Rafael Correa. Which means I am finally free of the political propaganda bombardments most of my friends escaped back in November. Correa is a liberal. He does not favor U.S. interests (as far as I can tell) and...

Three New Things

Emily Soule

2012-11-27

“Learn three new things before you come back to us,” the kindly man had commanded Cat, when he sent her forth into the city. She always did. Sometimes it was no more than three new words of the Braavosi tongue. Sometimes she brought back sailor’s tales, of strange and wondrous happenings from the wide, wet world beyond the isles of...

The Foreignness within the Normalcy, The Normalcy within the Foreignness

Emily Soule

2012-11-21

I feel the stories I share should be filled with pithy anecdotes and cultural insights. Yet all I have to offer is normalcy. Life does not change from one hemisphere to the other. Relationships, societies, human beings – they mesh and flow in similar collisions, no matter the place. My life here in Ecuador feels…normal. That surprises me. The day before...

Conviction, Dreams, and Adulthood

Emily Soule

2012-07-23

Someone commented yesterday about how hard my decision must have been, “giving up a year to go abroad…not seeing your family. You must have had to think on that one a long time.” I smiled and nodded; yet did not bother to contradict her statement. The truth is choosing to participate in Global Citizen Year [...]