Carla Rivas (Cambridge 2008–2010)
It’s been almost 5 years since my husband and I left MIT. After a great experience there, we came back to Mexico. I went back to figure skating, a sport I practiced at MIT, and maybe my greatest passion. I sought a job, but I got pregnant of my first child, a beautiful girl who’s now 3. I took a course on teaching English as a second language, and after that I got pregnant of my second child, a handsome boy who’s now almost 5 months old. I’ve chosen to be a full time mother, except for a couple of hours a week, which are devoted to my passion for skating. My husband worked for almost 2 years for Mexico’s government at the Ministry of Finance, and then he switched to the private consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where he’s been working for almost 3 years. He’s been very supportive of my decision of being a full time mom, and he has shown me he’s a great dad.
Spouses&Partners gave me the great opportunity to meet people from all around the world, and helped me learned to respect and admire different cultures.
I’m also thankful of the Figure Skating Club of MIT, which gave me a space to learn and improve my skating skills and taught me what a team is. Since I came back to Mexico, I’ve been to a couple of competitions, I got my first gold medal, and even joined an adult synchronized team for a couple of months.
My life is very different from what it was 7 years ago, when I was single and living with my parents. This year, my husband and I will celebrate our 7th Anniversary, and we’ll always remember those first 2 years at Eastgate.
Alma Wen-Ju Tai (Cambridge 2009-2011)
While my husband pursued another degree from System Design and Management, Sloan-MIT, we relocated to Boston from Dec 2009 to Feb 2011. Nowadays, we have settled down in Taiwan, Asia. I regularly miss the warmth, the welcoming and the greetings of S&P in the well-organized MIT community. I have made a few intimate friends and learned about exotic cultures and cuisines by attending the Cooking Group, Japanese Tea Ceremony Class, Craft Class, Orientation Event, International Fair, and especially enjoying the Wednesday Meetings. I really had an amazing and pleasant time there. I even made a joke then that I would like to do a research on: "A study about the correlation between the MIT students’ school performances and the happiness indices of their spouses and partners". The result of my research would be a “positive correlation” definitely.
After moving back to Taiwan, with the cultural nutrients from S&P and the MIT community, I feel energetic to resume my teaching post. By working together with my creative team members of Yang Ming Vocational High in Taiwan, we plan and implement the Reading and Writing Program by Class-co-reading Event, Project Study, and Post-reading Writing Contest. Although my daily life is like Cinderella’s reality after the stroke of midnight, I still cherish and appreciate the opportunity to devote myself to students.
Last winter, we had a good time coming back to Boston and I reunited with old friends, food, the Dome and all brilliant memories in MIT. After traveling, I have finally finished drawing the Charles River, Dome, and Stata Center; pictures which are hung on my wall and always in my mind now.
Daniela Ruf (Cambridge 2010–2013)
Already before coming to MIT in 2010 I was curious about spouses and partners as my husband Konstantin obtained a fellowship for a year as a post doc at the MIT Media Lab and I also wanted to work in the Cambridge area. With Jennifer´s help I started volunteering every Wednesday at the Boston Foodbank together with my friend Efrat. It was through a coincidence that I later found an Internship at the Koch Institute for integrative Cancer Research at MIT. Jennifer also helped me prepare for my job search through networking events at MIT and job search workshops.
After a year Konstantin got a contract from MIT and we had two children (Benjamin in 2011 and Maya in 2013) during our time in Cambridge. I was able to work part time at the Koch Institute and lead a new mom´s group together with my friend Cheryl for MIT mums and babies. We had a truly great time!
In May 2013 we returned home to Vienna, Austria. My husband is teaching at the University of fine Arts and building up his own business, which works out fine so far! A year ago, I started working again at the pharmaceutical company I worked for before we left. In March, Konstantin went back to MIT two times for a project and I hope I can also come back for a visit in the near future!
Nora Vrublevska (MIT 2007-2014)
Sending an alumni update from Riga, Latvia. After nearly seven years in wonderful Cambridge, that we miss dearly, we have restarted a new life in our home country. I have gone back to school full time to study visual art education, while our bilingual son is making new friends in preschool. My husband works as Vice Rector for Science at Ventspils University College and teaches physics at Riga Technical University.
The past year has been quite a ride and now I know what the reverse culture shock is like. I continue my photography and teach workshops at the Latvian Museum of Photography. Keep in touch!
Miwako Yoshimizu (2011)
The picture is from our Christmas party (2014) in Japan. Some of us met in S&P and still get together even after we came back to Japan. We had babies during the same period in Boston (2011). We want to watch the growth of our children together. I feel very lucky to have such precious friends for life.
