Dreaming of Japan As a Child
One of the books that I borrowed when I got my first library card was a manga called Whistle! By Daisuke Higuchi. As a lover of all things soccer, Whistle! was the perfect combination of my love for art and for sport. The 24 volume series followed Junior high schooler Shō Kazamatsuri as he pursued his dreams of becoming a strong soccer player. As a scrawny middle schooler with a deep love for the sport, I could relate to Shō’s passion, dedication and above all esle, his underdog perspective.
Whistle! not only gave me someone to connect with… it also gave me a place to dream about: Japan. Reading manga after manga, I could piece together an imagined Japan filled with cute sailor school uniforms, magical girls and romantic confessions made during lantern festivals. Of course, none of these things actually encompass the entirety of Japanese manga, nonetheless Japanese culture and day-to-day life. But considering that Japan was nearly 8,000 miles away from Philly, the best that my middle school self could do was watch subbed anime, borrow art books about Japanese manga, and fangirl over kawaii fashion with my childhood best friend.
While my admiration for Japan remained alive in books and videos alone, the person I will be talking with today has not only visited the East Asian country but lived there for more than a year. In today’s podcast I will talk with my roommate in Spain, Jessica Ross, about her experience adjusting to Japanese culture, making friends abroad and moving away from a small town.
But as per usual, we will have a brief interlude…This time about the iconic children public tv series, Arthur. Remember, having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!
How Family Impacts Travel
Tricia: Okay so you have been a traveler for many years. I am like a little baby chick and you already have all of your feathers and everything, right metaphors? Y
Jessica: OH noooo…. okay, senorita.
Tricia: Oh, you know, you’ve been you’ve been traveling for quite a bit and you’ve also like travel even when you were younger as well, a couple times a bit.
Jessica: I mean, like younger in the sense of like being an adult because the first time I actually like left the country was at the age of 18. Okay, so like my the first country I ever visited outside of the United States was Guatemala when I was 18 years old.
And so I mean, that was 10 years ago so it was it has been like a long time… But so yeah in the span of 10 years, I have traveled a good bit of abroad but like in the sense of like my childhood and teenage years, like I mean, I just basically stayed in southern states and that’s where we would travel to most commonly for vacation and then also like me and my family briefly lived out in Arizona for two years when I was in middle school.
But yeah, when it comes to like my experience with like stuff abroad and traveling, it was definitely through that eyes of like my grandparents, my papop, he traveled for work for many years for PNG, Proctor&Gamble from Cincinnati, and like my granny did a lot of traveling in work in Japan.
And my Papop did a lot of traveling and work in Italy and Germany.
Tricia: Oh wow! I don’t think I don’t know if you told me that.
Jessica: Yeah. Yeah, he did it mostly in Italy and also Germany. He does have a lot of like cool stories of like him having to like rent a car and just like being by himself, like driving through cities in Italy and just being like this total foreigner like American… it was just like wild to hear about like their travel / business experience from back then, because like technology wasn’t there..
So like to the idea of me being by myself like in a foreign country just with a car and just having to navigate your own way around is crazy…but my granny specifically, she did, she did more traveling than my papop and she mostly was in Japan.
And so whenever I would hear about travel experience, it would be about Japan. And then also she would bring me back little like memorabilia stuff. It would always be Japanese stuff. So like yeah it was always in like the back of my head of like Japan was like a cool country to go visit and not only just to go visit, but to go work because like, they’re a really respectful culture.
Tricia: Because you worked in Japan for 14 months? Yeah.
Jessica: Yeah. Eventually close to 14 months. I’ve worked in Japan. Like right up until the pandemic.
The Decision to Move to Japan
But yeah, so I graduated university, I studied education. And then for the summer, I went to Spain to be an au pair and then I went back to the United States to be a teacher, and I was a kindergarten teacher for two years, but I just had this desire to go abroad again and so, I went back to school online, to get my TOEFL certification to teach English abroad.
I had already been to Europe because of my au pairing for three months that summer before my job, and I wanted to go somewhere in Asia. At first, I was really considering China, because through university, I had so many Chinese friends, you know? But then like, when it came down to me, actually, working somewhere, it felt, I felt more comfortable with Japan because like, my granny had the work experience in Japan.
So, I was like, well, I know about the work culture in Japan through my granny so like, I’m gonna do that and also like, that’s the one that I was most aware of growing up because of her experience in Japan.
Tricia: What would she bring back to you?
Jessica: I remember pokey sticks. Oh, but now Pokey sticks are everywhere like…So, I remember like she brought back pokey sticks. Like I was like, “oh, they’re so delicious, I love them!” But then, like, as I got older, they became more prevalent inside of like, grocery stores and like, the international aisle.
Yeah. And so, when I actually went to Japan, I never actually bought pokey sticks really.
Tricia: Because you were just like I can find anywhere. Right?
Jessica: Exactly. So I now, when I went back to US and I would go to like our international grocery store which is called Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati. I remember I would be looking for specific things that I missed from Japan. It would be like certain snack foods and like the sad thing is, is that sometimes I don’t even know the names of them because they would be in like Kanji and I would be like, I don’t know what that says.
So I can’t actually say the names of front of them, so I only know what they look like, but whenever I would go back to the international stores in the US and I would look for the Japanese snacks, they would never be there. But you know what would be there?
Pokey sticks.
Tricia: So tell me more about your your grandmother in Japan and all of that.
Jessica: Yeah, my grandmother’s experience working in Japan was actually much different than mine because she went to there with like a business, Procter&Gamble which was just like this huge corporation.
So like she was very accommodated for and when I went in there, I worked for an English school so it was a private school. This is essentially a company so like you can think of me as almost like a freelance kind of person like going in on my own right and like doing it on my own.
So like I kind of did it like the rougher way?
Tricia: A hundred percent.
Jessica: I just remember when she likes spoke about Japanese people she like would talk about how like respectful they are and how like nice they are especially to like foreigners even though like work culture in Japan can be very taboo. But like that’s when talking about like like let’s say a Japanese person to another Japanese person when it comes to like their relationship in the work culture because they have like this hierarchy.
Work life in Mito, Japan
Jessica: There’s more pressure on Japanese people to act a certain way and to make them themselves a certain way out of respect for that culture that they do. But for foreigners, like obviously, I tried to be as respectful as I could but if I ever like broke the rules of like the culture, they never were harsh on me because they, they always had this excuse of, “Oh, she’s just the foreigner.”
Like you really have to be really close to a Japanese person to, to break that language. Yeah, and for example, like all oh! This is the difference between the Japanese people on the foreigners like people that you work with you strictly called them just by their last name, right?
But with me they and with the other foreigners I worked with because the school I worked at it was like half foreigners who were teaching English and Japanese people who are also teaching English, they were just like the translators. But they also were very good in English and taught English, um, but they strictly went by their last names, and for the foreigners, they would call us by our first names.
And then my case, it actually worked out in my favor because, whenever my boss would say my last name, my last name is Ross…And whenever she would say, my last name, she would say, Rose.
…and then like for Jessica they would say, Jeshica.
Nut anyways, it actually worked out my favorite that they would actually call me Jessica instead of my last name because at least Jessica is more close to Jessica. Yeah, you know, Rose is a little bit different…
Learning… and Forgetting a Language
Tricia: That reminds me of Arabic; for instance when I was learning Arabic, I learned Arabic for two years and I’ve lost it all so no one asked me how to say anything.
I felt like such a fraud when I like introduced myself to my class and I was like, I speak some Arabic and all the kids were like, “oh my god, like write my name in Arabic,”
A lot of my Spanish kids also like have Moroccan roots. And so they’re gonna bring this, like, botched ass Arabic to the parents who speak full on Arabic and some of my kids also speak Arabic and they’re gonna be like, “what is this disaster of a language?”
Like, “this is a curse word!” Yeah, I feel like such a fun but yes, back to my name. Tricia is Triisha. So I like write it with a “E” because there isn’t a sound, but it’s usually I think, I mean it just didn’t translate to how I would like pronounce it so it was cool.
Jessica: That one time when I saw you whipping out like the Arabic from right to left from right to left quickly and it looked beautiful.
Tricia: It was probably… door… or friend
Jessica: I was like, “Tricia, tattoo that onto me now” like that’s soooo deep, sooo beautiful.
Manga/Anime in Japan and Foreign Perceptions of Japan
Tricia: We’re both influenced by Japan but in so many different ways.
Jessica: I think you’re very influenced by Japan by how lots of foreigners are influenced by Japan which is through anime.
Yeah. And so, like lots of the foreigners that I would meet in Japan, and by the way like whenever you’re a foreigner and can in another country, we always meet up; we always meet each other. Yeah. That’s what like even if like it’s not a fellow American like I’m I’m like meeting other foreigner.
So whenever I would meet other foreigners in Japan, they would be huge on anime,
But for me, like, I told you like, I was only influenced to Japan because of my granny and through business and working. Yeah. But but luckily, I was able to, like, make a friendship with like one Japanese person Ryoji who I became really close with. And luckily, whenever we would be hanging out with all the other foreigners and they were start talking about anime, he always told me that he doesn’t like anime.
How funny is it that that like I relate so closely to the Japanese person and not like the other like, Americans or other foreigners? Yeah. Because like, he told me, he was like, no, I’m actually not into anime.
I would say it’s pretty split 50/50. Actually of like their entire life is not consumed of course with like anime. Yeah. And manga. Yeah as much as like the foreigners that come in. Like the foreigners that come in like they’re so consumed by it because because like they love it.
I didn’t have a problem with people being so like obsessed with these things and like that and I didn’t have a problem with them like only knowing Japan because of this. But yeah, it was just interesting that it’s like, I guess it’s like kind of like in America, like not everyone listens to country music.
When people outside of like America, they might be like, oh, you guys like to have a hoe down
Tricia: Or like not everyone has obviously visited like New York City? Like people get surprised when I say, like, oh, “I’ve never been to California.”
I think like the idea that an American like wouldn’t or has never been to, like, you know, never been to Los Angeles, I think is sometimes a little mind boggling, but then the United States is literally like the size of a continent.
Jessica: That’s exactly how I felt about. Like yeah, anime sometimes manga.
Buying a Yukata and Going to Japanese Festivals
Tricia: Something I wanted to ask you about is the lantern festivals and stuff like that and obviously like you dressing up in Yukata…
Jessica: I had a Yukata. Yeah yeah. So yukata is for the spring festivals because it’s more lightweight and yeah breezy because, like during spring and summer time, it’s so hot. Like they told me, it’s essentially like pajamas. Oh, but like, they’re like, “we wear this for the summer,” so it’s, it’s the lighter weight one. And then kimono is thicker and so it would keep you warmer.
But for spring festivals like the ones that you would see, like, with the lanterns… I went to that and I wore, I wore the Yukata.
Tricia: And yours was so beautiful as well. Like how did you choose it again?
Jessica: So I lived in Mito and so like the mall there was called Opa
Tricia: What??
Jessica: I know for sure that it’s German
Tricia: What is Opa in German?
Jessica: Grandpa.
Tricia: So, how did you… this is kind of tying back to kind of your roots, but why did you connect Opa?
Like how did, you know what Opa was?
Influence of Personal Cultural Heritage
Jessica: I just know that because of like the area that I come from in Kentucky actually because like I do have German ties in my family but my German ties are German Russians. So my family were migrant people who went from… they were Volga Germans who came from Germany to Russia and they stayed in Russia for like many decades and then they went to the USA. So it wasn’t like they were like “German-German,” but they did speak the language by time they came to the USA is what I’m saying about.
But the area in the USA that I live now is northern Kentucky but it’s a very German city and German area where lots of German people settled.
And I have a lot of friends who call their grandpa, “opa.” They just carry on they hold on to like these like nicknames for their grandparents. Yeah so I do and I remember I also had like a kindergartener who I taught who called her grandpa, “Opa,” and I just yeah I just remember a few friends calling their grandpa’s their grandfathers, “Opa.”
Tricia: so that’s why you that’s what you thought of when you went to buy to take to get the yukata in Japan.
Jessica: Yes.
Jessica: Where I would always shop there all the time there was like a train station slash mall, but like during the lantern festivals, they had sales on the Yucatas.
Yeah, never remember. It was like this huge rack of like, all these different patterns and designs and all of them are so gorgeous. And like, yeah, I just remember when I, when I saw the one that like I picked, I was like this, is it like, oh, I just loved it.
I got to try it on and then like there’s that belt that goes around. Yeah, I’m there’s a name for this and I’m forgetting the name… I apologize.
Tricia: So young
Jessica: No girl, remember, I’m opa.
[Laughs]
Jessica: I remember the lady who is like selling it, like she’s like you actually don’t want to buy things that are the exact same color, they always like clash the colors a little bit patterns. Yeah. And the patterns and I just I thought that was kind of cool.
Yeah. So like I actually like picked out like this. My Yukata was like white navy, blue, orange and yellow and then my purse and my shoes were like a light pink and it’s just like by trying to like clashes but it kind of worked and like everyone’s was like that and it was really cool.
Making Friends In Japan
Tricia: How was just everyday life. So you said that most of your friends were foreigners. Yeah, and kind of like how was just navigating like friendships in in Japan because I know that as we talk beforehand that it’s a lot more kind of closed-in. Honorifics is a huge part of it. So it’s a more I think socially-distant society.
Jessica: Just like approaching each other. It’s very like timid, probably the wrong word, but like, you have like, guidelines. Japanese culture is very much like keep-to-yourself kind seeming and and its very quiet.
Also, especially outside of Tokyo. Like I remember whenever I would commute to work and I would be on the train, I just remember being on this train with tons of people and it being like dead silent, which in one hand was really nice but in another hand, it felt very like no social aspect, you know, which I know like some people are not on the train to socialize, you know like if you are just commuting to work like it’s actually nice to have that quiet time, but like that just speaks to like the culture of like when you do want to socialize, it’s not as easy.
And so yeah, most my friends, I mean, all my friends, I made there were just colleagues of mine, right?
And so lots of my friends were foreigners, lots of Filipina friends from the Philippines. And yeah, just like one true like close Japanese friend. And then like I had a other Japanese people that I worked with but it is mostly just like work related, like relationship. Yeah, but yeah. So it in in general in Japan it is really difficult to like break through and become close friends with a Japanese people there and that’s just how the culture is. And I can’t really explain why I guess it is because they’re so formal with each other or yeah.
I remember my Japanese friend, he had another American friend living in Japan because he had studied abroad in the United States.
And so his friend from the United States was also living in Japan. And so he said, “do you want to travel with me one day to go visit her?” And I said, sure, so we did that as a weekend trip and we visited her. And I remember, like, I met her and we just hugged each other and we were like, “hey how are you?”
And like, we became like just good acquaintances right off the bat you know. And like I remember when we left, he was like, “you guys hit it off so well” and I was like, “well yeah, I mean we’re first of all we were just like happy to see like another American in Japan” like because she was like living in a smaller town and I was living in this small town and so you don’t you don’t come across other foreigners or other Americans.
But he was like, if it were like the other way around and him like trying to his like two Japanese friend groups together, he said that it would be way more difficult. And like he never really elaborated or explained why, but he just said he noticed that difference that like we were more warm to each other and clicked right away to each other, as opposed to, if he had two separate friends in Japan in two different friend groups, he said he wouldn’t have been able to so easily mix them together.
So that’s that’s kind of like a difference.
Envisioning and then Committing to Moving Abroad
Tricia: Could you have like every envisioned yourself like at a you know, when you’re in college for instance like eventually going to Japan? I know that you had been pursuing peace corps as well.
Jessica: Yeah yeah. Um it was actually in college when I realized that I wanted to go abroad. Yeah. And I wanted to essentially see the world, like, outside of the United States and because I had been associated with our international team and international relations at my university, like I was part of a program there that like helped students become acquainted– to not just life at university but just American life in general. And like, so, I would take them for, like, car rides to like Walmart. Like, welcome to welcome to Eastern Kentucky– that’s where my university was. Nut like, you know, just making them feel comfortable and like, essentially telling them like, hey, if you need, you need food, this is where you go.
But yeah, like it was kind of like an awakened, like a desire of mind that I never quite knew I had. But like, it was always there because like whenever I would hear about the travels of my grandparents. I was always the one that was the most interested about it and I also remember like my granny gave me like this atlas, it was a book of different maps and I remember my mom even remembers this too, I would be in the car just looking at these maps of the world. And like I would just be looking at the different flags and the different land of all these different countries and I remember like I would look like Japan and be like my granny was there.
Yeah. And so like obviously looking back now like no duh, I was like destined to like be a traveler essentially or like because that desire was always there, but I never actually like pursued it until I was in college like, in in high school like I thought, like, hey, I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go study education and then I’m gonna go be a teacher.
Tricia: And that’s just what you did for two years.
Jessica: Yeah. Yes. But then like yeah, in college was when I was open to the idea of actually like leaving and yeah, really exploring the world.
Tricia: you’re comment on the atlas book reminds me of a book that I used to read. It wasn’t like of the world but it was all of the United States and like, of the different states. And they were I think there were like um hand drawn parts of it by like students from all around the United States. And there were these little facts about specific countries, I remember oh sorry, different states.
Yeah. And I remember one time, I don’t know why I did this. Like I challenged myself to remember like all the the capitals of the states and I like made different songs and dances to try and remember like you know like Carson City, Nevada and I would like act out me like driving a car.
Internet Culture and ‘Damon and Jo’
Tricia: This ties back to like the lack of like internet. Like I feel like when your kids like I’m really great for the fact that I’m kind of at this cusp of like being exposed to like the internet at like a younger age but also like having parts of my childhood without that.
So it’s also really interesting like this ties us both together. Also, like I started watching YouTube when I was like a little kid. Like I remember watching all these British youtubers for instance and like I know Nando’s for instance, because they would go there all the time.
Jessica: ls it like their KFC?
Tricia: I think so it’s just like a chicken place, I think. Yeah. And it’s like not that good actually have no idea.
Jessica: I think I remember one time. Someone British person explained to me that because they knew I strong Kentucky. They’re like, oh well we have Nando’s and I was like what’s Nando?
Yeah well you should know you’re from Kentucky, it’s chicken. I was like okay sorry about chicken okay sorry no one knows what Nando’s is but everyone knows KFC. Hey um capitalism let’s go by.
Tricia: Yes. So I remember like watching all these like British youtubers like YouTube was a huge part like and now not so much.
Yeah, yeah, I relate on that. I know we really on this because, like, you know, ‘Damon and Jo.’ They used to be YouTube duo who would travel the world, make amazing videos on it, and I think inspired like a whole host of people to also like do the same.
Yeah. So I don’t know if you had any comment on kind of outsider influence, were they apart of your journey or not so much.
Jessica: They were part of it but later. So not for the beginning stages. Yeah. Because, I mean, I wasn’t a frequent watcher of YouTube at such a young age.
‘Damon and Jo’ had an influence on me later on after some of my travels. So I think I was introduced to them probably between going from Spain to Japan. So like I went to Spain, the summer after I graduated college and before I began work as a teacher. And so I came back from Spain and that’s when I really got into travel vloggers. So, even my time at university, even when I was pursuing travel or becoming interested in at least, I wasn’t watching travel vloggers. I just watched them after I graduated after I was in Spain and I actually found them through like their language teaching.
Tricia: I think that’s a lot of people as well
Tricia: Yeah. So what I thought was interesting because we’re kind of tied to Damon and Joan interesting ways. Yeah, because like, Joe is from like Brazil and Damon is from Indiana.
Do you feel like you could connect to Damen in that regard that he’s from like a small town or like? What did they mean to you? Like I mean you guys had a similar trajectory: he’s still a small town and then like just expand like expand horizons.
Leaving Family, and a Small Town
Jessica: Yeah. And no, he was really inspirational to me. Even though I discovered him later. Um, like yeah, I mean he he is from Indiana small town, Fort Wayne. I come from Northern Kentucky which is referred to as also the tri-state area of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
And yeah, like, I do relate to him a lot because I think he even speaks about, like, he doesn’t even have like, close family that travels a lot. I was fortunate enough to have my grandparents, who traveled a lot for their work. But like as far as like, my parents go like my direct parents or I lived with, in my household, they had only been to, like Canada once to like Niagara Falls.
And yeah, like Mexico, cancun. So like, you know, like tourist areas, like the two countries that are right?
Tricia: Like if you’re gonna take the vacation yeah, those are the ones.
Jessica: Yeah, so like I really relate to him and that sense, he is traveling now and gaining all of these experiences and then like sometimes he goes back home and I just like to watch his vlogs when he goes back home because he’ll like talk about things that are like not relatable because it’s like it’s yeah, but I like how he always had this good humor about it essentially because with me, when I go home, I can sometimes feel down about myself, because like I’ve been away from that small town mentality, and so when I go back, I actually like feel like, oh, sometimes I can’t relate to you guys or it takes a while to adjust back. But I can always go back.
So I do relate to him in that sense where I can see him like when he goes back home or when he talks about his close family and friends.
Like it’s a small town mentality and it’s just like he has this now this like broader view of the world. Because of when you travel, that’s just gonna happen to you naturally. It’s not like we purposely like, like seek out seek it out. Like, I’m gonna awaken my senses.
Like I don’t even want to sound like highfalutin in this way because I don’t want to put my self or even Damon on a pedestal when it comes to like, going back home to a small town because like, obviously, like it’s okay to still be stuck in that small town mentality when you’ve never left, you know.
I do really relate to him in this sense of like, he has really found himself. Like, I don’t know. Like philosophy. He’s really into philosophy. How would you say it?
Jessica: I kind of have gained that sense too ever since leaving a small town… it’s hard to describe sometimes.
Tricia: I think also like an aspect of it is just like people prioritizing like different things in their lives. For instance, like wanting to stay in the place that you’ve grown up is also a key prioritizing like family ties and…and like, building a sense of comfort and like a sense of, I don’t know, like a sense of community like a community that, you know, and you love and you take care of each other as well. Like, it just and you’re talking about how, like, how your family is. It seems so close knit. And I think that’s like and I think that’s like an amazing priority in the same way that like traveling to a different country and forming kind of, at least for me the way in which I see traveling is like forming pods of like of community.
It’s not fully, in my idea, it’s not fully fleshed out as me staying in one specific place, and I think I’ve kind of struggled with that recently is like different definitions of community in what community I want to and I need.
Um but yeah I think traveling there it’s a it’s a priority, there’s benefits and also they’re disadvantages to it as well.
Like it’s not just this kind of glorified idea, there are aspects that you all have to sacrifice and in order to live a more independent life from your family.
Jessica: Exactly. I that’s the hardest thing about traveling. Is that I mean, the same, I missed most about the USA is my family. Because like, we are really close… close knit. And like, and it’s also part of the culture that come from because, like, Kentucky is like a southern state and that’s like, that’s kind of, like expected of you. And sometimes I know some people from where I’m from, if they do what I do, they actually will be criticized quite harshly because it’s like, oh, why are you leaving your family? Why would you do this to your family?
And I’ve even had that kind of like from outsiders. I’ve had people like kind of say this kind of things to me like people from Kentucky say that to me but luckily my own family has not done that.
Tricia: they’re supportive.
Jessica: Although we are close knit and but they are supportive of me pursuing my desires to travel and I’m very fortunate in that way because I do know a lot of families, lots of that mentality can be like, like, oh, don’t leave us, like, why would you do that?
The thing that I missed most about the US is my family. But yeah, when it comes to like community, it is like, this is something that I’ve grown to learn now too. My community is now all over the world. Because like, I go to one country and I make these friends, and then I have left this country but like a part of me is still there because of those friends, y’know.
Leaving Parts of Ourselves Abroad
Tricia: 100%, I think like for instance, I just like updated my like profile picture or on like Facebook and even my cover photo and it’s been years, it’s been a while. But it’s cool because my cover photo is of Jaen. Like it’s of like the vineyards and I think there will always be a part of me, who will, like, even thinking about this specific apartment that we’ve like lived together in for like, six months.
Like, there will be a part of me that like, will always think about like movie nights or something like that. When we put like candles and ate chocolate cake for birthday or like, or I don’t know, like walked around and we’ve traveled together so often, like, I don’t know. And it’s so tied to like this specific like country.
And recently, you know, the time is ending like we have one week left and for the past couple days I haven’t really left the apartment and I think it’s mostly because I don’t know how to put it… like like I I kind of want to stop time, kind of.
I don’t want to think about the fact that like this time is ending, and that this chapter in my life is ending. Yeah. And I think there’s a bittersweet feeling to traveling where like, you gain so much and then you also recognize that you have to let that go.
Yes. And I think, even when it comes like family and stuff like that, like, like your family has to give them give a part of themselves up to allow you or, you know, to encourage you to travel and, in a similar vein, like, you have to give a part of yourself up, like, every single time that you travel to new place.
Jessica: So true. Yeah, so so true. Yeah. Like a part of me is in Japan and in Spain . When I leave Spain a part of me will be here but there is a part of me that has always been in Spain ever since the first time I visited five years ago.
Yeah. So when I was living in Japan, I was thinking of Spain still. You know, and then part of part of me is in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic and the US obviously.
That it’s a beautiful feeling. Now, like, whenever I travel somewhere, I’ll be like, okay, what friends are nearby like yeah, you know, I mean, yeah, like, like when I just a few weeks ago, like, we went and visited, my friend, that’s like in Italy, right?
And she was my roommate at university. So it’s like, obviously, like these are two separate countries, but like, we all know that travel within Europe is so easy, so much cheaper. So like it wasn’t like that difficult to go visit her.
It’s like such a small world now like that feeling.
Tricia: I think it’s a great place to end, the end the podcast
Jessica: Thanks for having me
Tricia: Of Course
Goodbye, y’all. Peace out.
Jessica: Love
Where in the world 
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