Neighborhood Profile: Meet Carlos from Texas

It’s totally common in human nature that if we are comfortable with something, we stick with it. We don’t step outside of our ‘zone’ of comfort, or however else you might want to call it. So we end up staying within our own community with people that look like us and think like us and believe the same things we believe.

At EXPLO, everybody comes here for three weeks into this one place, because the want to step out of their comfort zone. We all come here to be a part of this international community. I’m meeting kids from Switzerland, London, China, Brazil. I've never experienced such a diverse community with a different set of opinions, ideas, viewpoints in my entire life. It’s why conversations happen at EXPLO that could never happen back home.

I mean, for instance, last night is a perfect example. So, I don't know much about Judaism. And we were sitting and having dinner and we started talking about religion. We got to ask all of these questions and now I know so much more about the religion.

I have a Jewish friend at home, but I never got to ask them questions.

I feel like, back at home, nobody talks about their differences in an open discussion kind of way. It’s like you are actually taught to not talk about your differences so openly. Because you are told it makes people uncomfortable. But here, it’s so open. You're welcome to talk about your culture, religions, and traditions in such a comfortable way. It’s safe to bring it up. It’s encouraged.

And something I really love is that with culture comes good food.

Communion is the best way to bring people together. In the Catholic faith, you come together in the church to share a meal during communion.

Communion. Community. There’s a root of that word. And here, we get to break bread together every day with people from all over the world. When you eat food together, it feels so familial. You sit down, you eat, you ask how your day is going. It’s just so relatable.