Across Continets

You’re out in the open land of Kenya when you spot a family of giraffes, roll the sunroof down and drive towards the family to see what’s up. Frances Blount ´21 lived in Arizona until she moved to Kenya when she was only five years old. Blount’s dad went to Kenya and loved it there so he, his wife, and his kids ended up moving to Kenya. They later moved to San Francisco and after, Iowa.

¨I remember that my parents’ friend drove us to school in his big truck kind of thing and he would always roll down the sunroof and we would stand up and stick our heads out the window,” Blount said. “I also wore a purple princess dress everywhere, it was just a cute look. We all just knew I was a fashion icon.¨ Blounts sister, Lorena says ¨I remember going to a safari and seeing all the animals, that was pretty cool because we were all pretty young and it was like a zoo but in real life¨

Blount’s parents decided to move to Kenya after her dad volunteered for the peace corps there as a teacher. Blount’s dad really liked Kenya and her mom thought it would be a good opportunity for their family so they decided to move. Blount’s parents were involved with the hospital, where they worked. Along with working at the hospital they lived in a compound. ¨I just remember that a lot of times people would come together from the compound to eat at the restaurant there, which was underneath the house for part of the time we stayed there.¨ Blount also remembers the big guard dogs at the front of the compound which she found very frightening. After living in Kenya, Blout moved to San Francisco.

¨I’m honestly kind of a city gal,¨ Blount said. Blount really liked San Francisco, there were so many things to do. She enjoyed thrift shopping there. Although Blount was embarrassed to have thrifted clothes when she was young, she really enjoys how unique it can really be and she loves thrifting now. She also liked shopping at all the malls they had in there, she says there were like 20 different malls. Blount also enjoyed the weather in San Francisco.

Blount was 14 when she moved to Iowa. ¨The most difficult part about moving to Iowa was definitely not knowing anybody. We moved in the middle of the school year so everybody already had a determined group of friends, but joining tech helped me meet new people.¨ Blount also enjoys her time in tech, where she builds the sets for plays.

Blount thought that Iowa was so different from San Francisco, but she likes thrift shopping here to find ¨farmer jeans¨ and there’s usually more things. Blount would eventually like to go back to San Francisco to go to college. She also wants to learn more languages because she thinks it would be fun to speak to people in other languages when she is traveling. Blount has learned many things from living in so many places and one is: ¨I’ve learned not to judge people that live in a different place from me before actually meeting them or being in their situation because if you are seeing things from an outside point of view you don’t really get all the information.¨