The city is large and shaped like a giant crater, set 12,000 ft. above sea level. The outer edge holds the poorer section of the city’s population, while the wealthier communities with 15th century Spanish houses and high-rise buildings are in the center, like the nucleus of a living cell.
It was 7:30 a.m. in La Paz, Bolivia and Vanessa Rada was just waking up. She got up, got dressed, and after her usual breakfast of hot chocolate she headed out for Universidad de Mayor San Andres, the local state college she attended with roughly the same student population as BYU.
Rada was studying music and had been playing the clarinet for years. She settled into a seat in one of her typical classes with over a hundred people in attendance and began to listen, while she contemplated the fun weekend of salsa dancing she would have.
It was just another day in the life of Vanessa Rada. Until the day she began her journey that would eventually land her on American soil at BYU.
“Going to BYU has been a dream of mine for a long time, even before there was a possibility of coming,” Rada said. “I wrote a letter to a music teacher at BYU three years before I even applied.”
Despite the desire of Rada and her sister to attend BYU, they didn’t have the money necessary to seize such an opportunity. Then, things in La Paz began to get worse.
Though La Paz is not the capital of Bolivia, Rada said that most major political decisions take place there. This being the case, there were constant riots and political unrest near where she lived and her parents began to worry about the safety and future of their daughters. Then Rada’s parents got divorced and added to her concern.
However, once the decision was made to send Rada and her sister to America, things seemed to fall into place for the family.
“God opened the doors wide for us,” Rada said. “My parents stopped fighting for a while and we got approved for a visa and bought affordable airplane tickets the day we got accepted into BYU.”
After attending BYU-Hawaii in a language immersion program for 6 months, Rada finally arrived in Provo in the summer of 2007.
Rada said that she has had an interest in different cultures and languages for many years. In Bolivia, Rada learned Hebrew, studied Jewish history, knows some Mongolian, Mandarin, Korean, and understands a lot of Portuguese. However, even her experience with other cultures didn’t completely prepare her for the transition to America.
“The hardest thing for me about the move was the culture shock being in Hawaii and Utah,” Rada said. “I didn’t realize how poor my country was until I got there. It was sad seeing people waste so much food while people in my country are starving.” Rada called it a “cultural contradiction.”
Rada also identified additional cultural differences between Bolivia and the United States. She explained that the community she is familiar with is close-knit.
“Everyone knows each other in Latin communities,” she said.
She described the individual nature of people in Provo as “separate and divided.” Despite these differences in culture, Rada is thankful for her chance to attend BYU.
“BYU is everything I thought it would be,” she said. “I have no regrets and I’m very grateful to be here. God has given me this chance to grow to the best of my potential--something I couldn’t do at home. Even though I can’t see my family and friends, this is where I’m supposed to be.”
Rada hopes to graduate with a degree in musical instruction and later apply for a master’s degree in art management.
Discussing her plans for the future, Rada said, “I’d like to be married, keep working on the things that I love, and be able to share my Bolivian traditions and culture with my husband and family.
“People express love in different ways, but we’re really the same. We value our families, we value our friends, and we like to eat,” she said with a laugh.
It’s 10:30 p.m. in Provo, Utah and Vanessa Rada is preparing for another day at BYU.
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