About Me

Hello, Hola, Hallo, Genki, Salut, Selam,Γειά, Privet, Czesc, Ciao everyone!

For all of you who don't know me yet, my name is Ricardo Daher and I am an undergraduate student at Saint Mike's. I am originally from the city of Valencia in Venezuela. I'm 20 years old and am currently a Sophomore (2nd year student) here. A few months before coming to Vermont my family and I had moved to Caracas (Venezuela's capital city), but due to some circumstances and the various political problems that my country was experiencing at that time, we decided to move somewhere else. So, we figured out that Florida would be the best place to go. It was kind of difficult to choose the city where we wanted to live because there were too many options (also my parents are really picky). But guess what? Regardless of their pickiness, we were able to find one. The city is called Weston, and it's beautiful! Even though it's a small town, we absolutely love it! It's right on the Everglades area--just a few mins from the beach. My family still goes to Venezuela every now and then but not as often as they used to before. I bet it's been 2 years already since the last time I was there =(.

[This is me at my house in Weston]

What am I doing in College? O_o

I'm majoring in Business Administration and double-minoring in Political Science and International Business. If you think Poli Sci doesn't have anything to do with what my main focus is here, which is Business, and that the two shouldn't go together, I can give you a good explanation as to why my decision. The reason is that I'm planning on going to Law School here (still not sure between Boston and Florida) after graduating from Saint Mike's, and so I'm afraid that there might be things about the US political system that I may need to know for Law School. Even so, what if all those things I'm so unfamiliar with prevent me from excelling in my career as a lawyer? --Definitely can't let that happen. So, I'm thinking probably a minor in Political Science will make up for that lack of background that I'm going to need for Law School.

But why Business and Law?

Well, I'm interested in specializing in International Corporate Law. I like to learn about other countries, their cultures as well as to learn different languages. In fact, I can speak three languages fluently (well at least I think I can... heh), including, of course, my native language which is Spanish. This summer I'm planning on going to Geneva to study French, so I can get started with my fourth language. J'ai hâte d'être à Genève!!!

[This is the University of Geneva. If I end up going to Geneva, this is where I'm going to study French :)]

In case you ask yourselves why I came from so far away to go to school in such a small state like Vermont, there's also a reason for that--although it's kinda hard to explain. Actually it's been sort of a family tradition to come to Saint Mike's to study English. The first to come here was my uncle Humberto, who's like 76 years old now (I can't even remember the last time I saw him!). He came to Saint Mike's when he was my age in the 1950's--just a few years after the English Program was first founded. Like my uncle, there were others in my family who came here as well to study English (some of my mom's cousins, my brother Roberto, my sister Veronica, and ME). But there's an interesting fact about me. I am the first one in my family to stay at Saint Michael's to get his degree. Also, I am the only one who's been here the longest (since October 2006), although I took a few months off (between '07 and '08) in Italy as well as at lots of different places --I guess I needed a break.

[So yeah, this my sister Carolina and I in Isola Bella, Italy]

All I can say is that these last 3 years of my life have been the most productive ones I've had so far. My English improved significantly and finally I was able to learn Italian. I traveled to a lot of places I didn't think I would ever go (like Germany? I guess I never pictured myself there). I made lots of new friends and was able to learn A LOT about different cultures, especially the Asian culture. Actually the first Asian friend I made at Saint Mike's was a guy from Japan with whom I still am in touch with. Also, I met a girl from Venezuela (Marjorie Bacalao), who happened to be from the same city as me (what a small world!). Even though she doesn't go here anymore (which actually makes me really sad), we are still best friends. Now, she lives in Florida, so we get to see each other every now and then when there are breaks.

[Mayi and I at the back of Pontigny Hall)

When I first left Saint Mike's in May of 2007, I didn't want to come back because I didn't want to live so far away from my family. But as time went on I gained much more maturity and realized that sometimes we just have to live away from them. I guess I could say that coming back helped me become more independent. There are a bunch of things that I do now that I wouldn't have been able to do by myself before.

Here's a recent picture of me with my family on last year's New Years day. We had so much fun. I miss them a lot :(.

Haha... -Notice our hats and tiaras-

[From left to right: My sister Carolina (my future nephew inside her), me, my Mom, my Dad, my sister Veronica, and my brother Roberto]

Honestly, I can't regret having decided to come back to Saint Mike's. This is a great school. My English wouldn't have improved so much if it wasn't for this school and the great English teachers that I had here. 감사합니다! Danke! ありがとう! Спасибо! Obrigado! Merci a tous! Grazie a tutti! Gracias a todos! Thank you all!