Here I Stand.
Here I stand, 10,000 miles away from home, and I am considered to be:
“...the world’s best wingman.” At any given time I have at least two girls in my presence. I’m smooth with my words, easy on the eyes, and always the one blasting throwback james on my portable speakers. I ease in and out of conversation like a southern stick of butter in the Australian heat. Here, I am the wingman for the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly.
….his “NIGGA.” Not to be confused with “his nigger,” he explained to me. You see, if he calls me his nigger then he’s obviously mad at me. For an Australian, I guess I could understand the ignorance of that statement due to the lack of intereaction with a black person. But this guy was from California. Life lesson from this situation: Stupidity is everywhere you go. Hold your head high and NEVER let anyone bring you down.
“...intellectual.” Trust me, this is more shocking than you may think. I have always considered myself smart enough to hold my own. But never smart as my peers who surrounded me. However, now that I’m in a much less stressful place than DC, I find that I can think clearly, challenge the ideas of others, and find motivation to dig deeper than surface level for topics discussed in class. It is amazing what will happen when you add a few palm trees, a reasonable workload, and genuinely interesting professors. I can tell now that reverse culture shock will be the death of me.
...his “NIGGER.” We’ll assume that this was the alcohol and his European upbringing that let this powerful word slip through his slurred speech. Nevertheless, I slowly glanced around to my American mates for support only to remove myself from the situation without any backing to go reflect. My response later on in a private setting: “You’re drunk, but take one thing from this conversation. Never say that word. It is NEVER okay. Not to your friend. Not to me. Not to anyone.” At this point, I’m more shocked that it’s been the typical European/American white guy who has called me these rather than any Australians.
“...FUN.” It’s weird that I really have came to terms with this one. During this past year, I truly struggled with accepting my high energy, aggressively direct, and emotional personality. In a city and school such as DC & GW, that is considered taboo and not socially acceptable. But then…I realized that it wasn’t. I’m just me. I love DC with all my heart, but jesus we have some stuffy people in that city. Also, I think I was just hanging out with people who don’t accept me for being the one & only cArLo AlExAnDeR wOoD. “People love you. Love yourself back” (Sparks 2014).*
“...sexy.” Contrary to what many may say about the assumptions that Australian’s have about PoC, specifically the Indigenous population, my sex and love life has been unreal. I kid you not, every time I have went into a gay club here, I have received this comment in some variation or another as they stroke my arm or face, “Oh my god, you are so beautiful with your chocolate skin.” That usually resulted into a few free drinks afterwards. I’ll let your imagination go as it will on how the rest of my night goes! :)
“....the opposition.” By default, I have many viewpoints that differ from my classmates, professors, and locals. Why? Simply because I’m black. “Only about 5 percent of Americans who study abroad are black, according to the Institute of International Education” I don’t mean to think that they’re rude for thinking all latinos are Mexicans or that Snickers commericals about sexaul assault is funny. I just think we view the world differently. They view it as white and black; I see it through a rainbow spectrum. They are fortunate enough to work to live; Unfortunately, I currently live to work. Nevertheless, despite all the crazy differences that we see on both large and small scale issues, we all have learned something.