Blog #6 Meet Kim Sanchez

Bio: Kim is an incoming fourth year PhD student in the Public Health department at UC Merced. She received a triple B.A. in Spanish, Public Health, and Psychology at UC Merced and completed a Master’s in Public Health (MPH), emphasis in Community Health Education, at CSU Long Beach. Her current research focuses on understanding how policies address health disparities. Specific interests include food insecurity, nutrition, obesity prevention, and health education.

Pre-departure thoughts:

I have mixed feelings—I'm excited and nervous all at once. I'm excited to embark on this new journey and dip my feet into international work, something I've always been passionate about. I'm nervous because anything other than Spanish or English is a foreign language to me. This makes me stop and think about my own parents' experiences. They migrated from Mexico to the U.S. without understanding English, yet they were able to survive! I should be fine, right? This is the first time I'll be traveling to Morocco, and the first time I travel to a place where I don't speak the language and/or don't have my personal translator with me (my younger brother who loves to learn new languages). I've tried to pick up modern Arabic on the Duolingo app but it's just so difficult to grasp! I'm excited to learn a few Moroccan Arabic phrases/words. For now, I'll have to be present with my experiences and enjoy the sounds of foreign conversations.