Title: In Ecuador, This Son of Immigrants Explored His Fascination With Latin America in a Summer Studying Abroad

This story is part of our summer storytelling series, which follows Hoyas’ adventures near and far.

This June, Jeremy Suzuki (SFS’28) started his mornings by walking to the bus stop down the street. For 35 cents, Suzuki commuted to the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, one of Ecuador’s premier universities.

On the bus ride, he’d take in Ecuador’s capital and its streets lined with vendors selling fresh Ecuadorian dishes, produce, sweet treats and handmade crafts. Suzuki has indulged on multiple occasions during his monthlong stay, from a wooden spoon to an artisanal mortar and pestle. 

Suzuki liked to converse with local shopkeepers and street vendors while he was exploring Quito. The informal conversations with locals allowed him to practice what he was learning in his university Spanish classes.

This summer, Suzuki studied abroad as part of the Georgetown in Quito: Nature and Culture in Latin America program. For six weeks, Suzuki lived with a host family in Quito while learning Spanish and Latin American literature, nature and culture at the Ecuadorian university.

As part of his program, Suzuki also explored the natural wonders of the country, including forays in the Amazon Rainforest and the Galapagos Islands.

The experience is one Suzuki has treasured, having long been interested in Latin America and migration issues.

“Being an American and always calling myself an American, it kind of made me feel silly to have not seen the rest of the Americas,” he said. “Being able to spend time here in South America, I feel like I’m getting a more complete experience of this regional identity I’ve had in my life.”

Linking Latin America to His East Asian Roots

While Suzuki is of Japanese descent, he’s always been fascinated by Latin America.

He has taken Spanish classes since sixth grade. Some of his favorite musical artists are from Latin America. At Georgetown, he’s joined cultural clubs like MEChA and Guanacos, the Salvadoran culture club.

For Suzuki, his interest in Latin America has always been tied to his identity as a son of immigrants. Suzuki’s parents emigrated from Japan before Suzuki was born. When he was five years old, his family moved from New York to Washington state, where his father has worked as a bus driver for 14 years.

“That moving experience made me understand a little bit about how it feels to completely change your home and have to adapt to a new life,” Suzuki said.

Suzuki’s first language was Japanese, and he grew up watching Japanese cartoons and being immersed in Japanese culture. He said he faced discrimination as a child, with his peers often mocking him for his English and not understanding American culture.

As a child, Suzuki rode the school bus driven by his father or his coworkers, many of whom are Latino, he said. He began to identify with the migrant experience of many Latino families in his community as he got to know the bus drivers and their children who were his classmates.

“[My family is] a part of the working class, so that makes me feel like I am part of the people who are the face of the immigration issue who have the most to lose,” he said. “Knowing my dad’s coworkers, it makes me happy that I can speak to some of them in Spanish. And knowing their children who go to school are also people who have similar experiences as me, it makes me feel like I need to help people like me.”

At Georgetown, Suzuki majors in regional and comparative studies with a focus on Latin America and East Asia. His study abroad program in Quito has complemented his studies and helped him better understand the region and its complex relationship with migration, he said.

In his classes in Quito, Suzuki explored the lives of Latin American migrants through accounts of Indigenous populations and people from Latin America who emigrate, which reminded him of his own family’s story.

“It’s important to see the experiences of people who have come into the country out of desperation and all the horrors that they experience,” he said.

Venturing Across Ecuadorian Nature

When Suzuki wasn’t in the classroom this summer, he explored Ecuador through several immersion experiences in the program.

For a week, Suzuki ventured deep into the Amazon, flying to Eastern Ecuador and traveling by boat before arriving at cabins at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, a research center in the Ecuadorian Amazon. 

In the Amazon, Suzuki learned about the rainforest’s biological diversity, encountering woodpeckers, monkeys and other animals. He also observed camera traps in the jungle that captured footage of otherwise elusive animals, like jaguars, pumas and anteaters.

Suzuki also spent a week in the Galapagos Islands, learning about the ecosystem and environmental challenges there.

He lived on a boat while exploring the Galapagos, which is made up of 18 major islands with dozens of smaller islands dotting the ocean. The days consisted of snorkeling, hiking and seeing wildlife that often can only be found in the Galapagos, ranging from exotic birds to fish, sea lions, turtles and penguins.

After completing his program in Quito, Suzuki visited Georgetown friends in Lima, Peru, before traveling to Colombia, a country with which he’s always been fascinated.

Suzuki said that exploring three Latin American countries this summer has brought to life what he’s studied in the SFS classroom while reinforcing his interest in migration and regional issues.

“Being able to be here finally and learn about the lives of people in Latin America, the issues that are common in all these different countries, I think it’s been important for me to come to these places in person and talk to real people about what is happening,” he said.