BLACK GIRLS TRAVEL T-SHIRTS!!!

As you all know Girls Going Global is up and running!!!! We finished our first weekend in Latin America and this weekend we will explore the continent of Africa! More than anything I want these girls to one day go abroad and actually see the places that we learn about but what's the first step? PASSPORT!

 Not one of the girls I work with have a passport....NOT ONE! I want to change that so I am selling BLACK GIRLS TRAVEL T-SHIRTS for a MIN. DONATION OF $20! Feel free to give more as one passport is $105. ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TOWARDS A GIRLS PASSPORT. Below is an example of the t-shirt. Place your order today! Last day to submit a pre-order is August 20th! Email me at girlsgoingglobal@gmail.com or click on the link below! 

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=B7K37CLFGWWKG

Any and all support is appreciated!!! 

Indian Jams I can't get out my head

Lately I've found myself in the shower, office, and streets humming Indian tunes and then breaking out into full on Bollywood dance scenes with hip thrusts and intense facial expressions. Of course every time I do this people look at me like I'm crazy and judge my life! So here I am sharing my favorite tunes from India with all of you because I will continue to sing them and you should join!

1. Kolaveri is an international party starter.....The U.S. is not up on it yet but I promise you that when this song starts people GO CRAZY! I think it's because of his hip hop swag lol.

2. If you want to still hear a hip hop/pop beat but know something from a Bollywood movie Teri Meri ( You and Me) is the jammmm....this was the very first song I learned and sang for all the auto drivers.

3. Sheila is the Indian Beyonce!!!!! EVERY MAN LOVES SHEILA AND EVERY GIRL WANTS TO BE SHEILA! I love her especially because she does belly dance and the chickenhead all in one 8 count lol! Jam with me people. I even included the lyrics for you to learn and understand what she's saying ;-)

4. And lastly if you want to go full Bollywood....you have to know Munni!!!! She's also an Indian favorite. I learned this song on my 15 day train journey with 500 Indians....my bunk mates said I had to learn all the words and now they call me Munni lol.

 I hope this short list has helped expand your musical selections lol. Some are very old but I promise you that if an Indian hears you singing ANY of these songs you will become their best friend...I almost became some one's wife lol. Hope you enjoyed!

Don't forget follow me @blkgirlbigworld

What's the 411?!?

For all that may be wondering what the heck I've been doing since I got back from India I figured I should give you an update. So the deal is I left my program in India early to accept a great opportunity at the founding social enterpise organization in Washington, D.C. Yes, I'm still trying to save the world and make money at the same time lol.

The real 411 is that I'm finally taking a risk and pursuing my dream to empower girls through travel. In 21 days, 18 hours, 44 minutes, and 15,no 14 seconds Girls Going Global will launch in Philadelphia!!! Yes, I do have a countdown on my phone because that's how crunk I am! s/o to the T-Zero app :-)

Girls Going Global is a global engagement program that will expose inner city girls to the different cultures of the world through experiences in their city (God willing we will be actually going abroad by year 3). We will dance our way through Latin America and Africa with salsa  and African dance class, eat our way through Asia with sushi making, and strut through Europe with our very own runway fashion show! I'm so excited and I can't wait to share updates on all our fun so stayed tuned!

For updates follow me @BlackGirlBigWorld  

Travel Tips for Brown Girls with Zora Magazine!

Check out my post on ZoraMagOnline.com and

....Follow me @BlkGirlBigWorld on Twitter

http://zoramagonline.com/2012/07/7-tips-for-brown-girls-travelling

FAREWELL INDIA!

It has been almost four months since I left my family in India and it's been surprisingly easy to adjust back to life as an American. Before leaving I wondered how my return would be? Would I be overly grateful for everything I have? Would a new patience emerge from my spirit? Would I take all the chaos of India and bring it back to D.C?

So imagine my shock when I jumped in the car from the airport, went one mile towards home, and all of sudden felt like I had only been gone for 6-8 hours when I was indeed gone for 9.5 months! I felt like life in India was a dream and I had finally woken up. It's been 4 months and I still can't properly describe how normal everything felt within the first hour of being back home.

I appreciate India for all that it taught me about myself. Despite the challenges, because of my neighbors/family  the Tivoli's ( above)  I can say that my Indian experience was a gratifying one. No matter how bad my day was I could always count on one of them to make me smile or put things in perspective. The Tivoli's were a family that lived below the apartment complex. Mr. Tivoli was the buildings watchman who was in charge of any and everything that happened within the building. The floor you see in the picture is where he and his wife slept at night outside. The children had some small living quaters in the back that I never got to see. My greatest memories with the Tivoli's were Sunday dinners ( chicken curry amazing!!!), Mommy walking in my apartment to check on me (no she didn't knock just walked through the front door lol) ,movie night with the girls featuring Beauty and the Beast on youtube, and the unforgettable night that Mr. Tivoli and Sunderi ( girl to the right of me) fetched 2 buckets of water for me!

With all my memories what will always remain with me is the look on their faces once the lost in translation moment revealed that I was leaving Hyderabad for good. They were so upset that we didn't have a party before my departure. Looking back on it I wish we would have because I allowed my frustration with everyone else to keep me from enjoying my last moments with the people I grew to love. At 4:30am when my taxi got to the front gate Mommy got up from her bed ( the floor outside), walked me to the gate, grabbed my face and began shrieking with tears. It broke my heart to let her go and leave them behind. They will forever have a special place in my heart. 

Days as an MBA student: Indian School of Business

Before coming to India I told myself I wanted to get the most out of this experience both professionally and personally. Thus far I think I'm learning a lot about myself and how I interact with other people, but for a while I was struggling with ways to maximize my professional development. An MBA is in my 5 year plan so I thought what better way to challenge myself, gain knowledge that can be used in social enterprise, and get a feel for an MBA experience than taking a class!



The Indian School of Business (ISB) is one of the top business schools in the world. Luckily for me it is in Hyderabad so I talked my way into a Marketing Communications Strategy course. I thought I may enjoy this because a part of me missed being a student and after my first class I did but it didn't take long for the time and expenses that come along with school before I was over it. The campus is about 30mins- 1 hour from my side of town which equals either 2 hours commute on buses or paying 300-400 rupees for an auto round trip. Now I'm not ballin over here but I am my mother’s child and we operate on convenience so auto it was. This of course meant that my budget became really tight really quickly which I have always felt was for the birds. *Financial independence is invaluable.*


ISB reminded me of my beloved Spelman from the first day. When you first reach the campus your are stopped at the gate, and security does not play just like public safety at Spelman. Explain yo self! Once you get past you have to walk about 1km up a road of palm trees and then like a Disney movie AHHHH...the school emerges as a castle. Or at least that's how I felt. ISB in my opinion is separate from Hyderabad. The campus is spotless and there are bathrooms with western toilets and...TISSUE!


What really tripped me out were the students! All I can say is " o you fancy huh" * swizz voice* The first thing I noticed were legs. Bare legs. Girls showing they’re bare legs! In case you don't understand why this is a big deal, Hyderabadi women are always covered; arms, necks sometimes, but especially legs, so to see an Indian girl in a skirt blew me away! They were just all too cute. I felt like a bum in my flip flops that fell apart as I walked on campus, my sweaty kurta, and muddy pants. #loosing


What I like most about my ISB experience was the happiness it brought me. No matter how my Monday or Wednesday began it always ended with me happy as I left the campus. I think the happiness came from my change of environment. Working at my school and being around my cohort is cool but I needed some time to shake things up, be around different people, and do something for me.


I still don't know if I did well in the class but it was definitely worth it! Now I'm just debating on doing it again.

p.s. don't forget to donate www.gofundme.com/martice

Final lesson of the Himalaya's: Everyone has a story!

I apologize that I’m finishing this story two whole months after the fact…but please forgive me I promise to get my blogging back on point.


So the hail storm only got worst as we went down so we tried to find shelter under a rock. We includes me, Kristen, the guide, and the horse. I had an umbrella so it made things somewhat better but all I could think about was how was this about to end? Would we have to wait another three hours to try to go down again? Would we end up staying the night on the mountain? The hail seemed never-ending, but after another hour or so it stopped and we started our way back down. At this point Kristen and I are soaked and just want to get the hell off this mountain but on the way down we run into another Aussie woman at a small tea shop. Of course Kristen could not resist a chat w/ her home girl. This is when it gets interesting.

Were sitting around talking and Kristen poses the question what’s your story to the Aussie woman, let’s call her Fran. Kristen believed that everyone in India had a story. Kristen’s story was that she was a relationship counselor from Australia who was dealing with a failing marriage. Two years ago she was in a terrible car accident and was told that she was paralyzed. After intense therapy and clearly God she managed to get the strength to travel. So she told her husband she was taking some time for herself and decided to spend six months between Nepal and India. This story wasn’t that new for me. I had met two other women who also fled to India because of failed marriages. The only thing that confused me about all this was why they picked India? I think they all wanted a spiritual awakening…I mean they were all there to see the Dalai Lama. I didn’t really feel like I had a story but after opening up a little to Kristen she assured me that I was also heartbroken and seeking love from a man and developing strength within myself. I didn’t know how to take that but since she said she was a relationship counselor I figured some of it had to be true. Our stories however were nothing compared to Fran’s.

Fran told us that her and her partner were in India celebrating 10 years. Now originally when she said partner I didn’t even assume she meant a woman. She tells us how she and her husband had also been having hard times. (At this point I’m wondering who is having a successful marriage) They had an on and off marriage and had been separated for some time. Then one day he comes to her and says that he has to be honest with her….he proceeds to tell her that he believes he was born in a man’s body and is indeed a woman and that this is the reason why they have been having so many problems. (That awkward moment when you just smile and say wow) Fran takes this information and decides that he’s right. Since then they have been to Thailand to have the full operation and her husband is now Jane and they were in Dharamsala to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Kristen blurts out “so would you consider yourself homosexual now?” Fran says “I guess so; this all just proved to me that it was about the person he was within.” I didn’t know what to say but that she was a strong woman to truly accept this new life and I was proud of myself because I really wasn’t judging her, I was truly listening to her perspective and thinking “damn girl…you ride or die for real ” in my head the whole time.

Kristen was right. Everyone I met in Dharamsala had a story. There were people who were working with Tibetan refugees, hippies who were just enjoying the scenery, backpackers searching for their purpose in life, and monks seeking inner peace. I spent another two days taking a Tibetan cooking class, learning about the Free Tibet movement, shopping for elephants, getting a Tibetan massage,trying  to go paragliding but never being successful, and going to the Dalai Lama’s teaching.

My trip to the Himalaya’s was everything I needed and since it’s been about two months since then I could use it again. I am so proud of myself for doing this all by myself. I took creepy Indian buses throughout the night for a total of 30 hours, climbed a mountain, and scored tickets to see the Dalai Lama…all by myself. I always knew I was a strong person but this trip reiterated the strength I have within myself to continuously challenge myself to become a better person.