It was a long time coming. I always had a dream of living in another country and speaking another language, and my life just kind of evolved. I moved to Puerto Escondido last January, because I wanted a change of life. I’d gone surfing a handful of times in my life on different vacations, and I loved it, but I had never put in the time to like, really practice and get good at it. So that was my goal and I was doing that for almost a year. Until I ruptured my eardrum in a surfing accident last November. I got wiped out by a wave and my surfboard hit my head and left ear. I went completely deaf and had the sound of the ocean stuck in my ear. It was a really bad accident, and a slow process to heal, but my hearing is coming back now.
—Emily from Colorado
Interview by MJ, Emma Grace, E, and Ari