In this episode we spoke with Amirah Fadhlina from Indonesia and Moataz Noureddine from Lebanon who are both currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. Because of the length of our conversation we will publish this conversation in two parts. In this first Part Amirah and Moataz discuss chosen families, their relationship to home while living abroad, being on a student visa, and the choice of prioritizing their education and career for their social life and families well being.

Amirah Fadhlina was born and raised in Indonesia until the age of fourteen when she moved abroad to Singapore where she began her academic career. Amirah graduated from Earlham College in 2017 with a double major in Human Development & Social Relations (HDSR) and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. After Earlham she earned her Masters at Harvard University and this fall she started her first year of her PhD program at Boston University in the department of Sociocultural Anthropology.

Moataz Noureddine is originally from Lebanon. He graduated from Earlham College in 2019 with a double major in Biology and Physics. He is currently a Research Associate at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

Music Credit: Jordan Connor

Special thanks to Steve Schwartz who helps us with the editing and sound of our episodes. He has a music tech startup that makes special microphones for acoustic musical instruments, at YourHeavenAudio.com