This week Alyssa and Nadia are joined by Lucy Shepherd, a close friend of Nadia's from their Dialogue of Civilizations program in Spain, to talk about growing up in different countries, finding a career path, and figuring out what comes next after graduation.

Lucy shares how she spent her childhood moving fromMaryland to Ecuador, then Peru and eventually seven years in Johannesburg, before landing in Boston for college. Along the way, that constant relocation shaped how she thinks about identity, belonging, and what it even means to call somewhere home.

At Northeastern, Lucy started out undeclared, trying on economics, environmental science, and communications before finding her way to English and discovering she loved editing. She talks about what drew her to the field, how living abroad shaped her interest in stories that don't usually get told, and why she sees an editor's job as protecting a writer's voice rather than smoothing it away.

The conversation feels timely for Nadia, who is heading into her own post grad questions soon. They talk about the job search, staying open instead of locking into one plan, and the side gigs and small steps that can carry someone through an uncertain stretch.

They also get into what it's like not really having one fixed home base anymore, since her parents are in Istanbul now and her sister is out in California. And they talk about the places that have actually stuck with her, Peru especially.

It's a grounded conversation about identity, ambition, and learning to trust that things will come together even when the path isn't clear yet.

Takeaways

• Growing up abroad complicated Lucy's sense of what it means to be American, and honestly, it's still not fully resolved
• Being undeclared wasn't a setback, it gave her the room to actually find the right path
• A good editor protects a writer's voice instead of replacing it
• Living in so many different countries shaped her interest in stories that usually don't get told
• Post-grad uncertainty gets a lot easier to sit with when you stay open instead of forcing a decision
• Once her family scattered across different countries, home stopped being one fixed place
• Peru is so much more than Machu Picchu
• Careers tend to start with curiosity, not certainty

Chapters

• 0:11 – 1:43 Meet Lucy and how she and Nadia met on their Dialogue of Civilizations trip in Spain
• 1:43 – 5:51 Lucy's childhood in Maryland, Ecuador, Peru and seven years in Johannesburg
• 5:51 – 8:54 Why Northeastern, choosing Boston over Santa Cruz and a co-op program she didn't even understand yet
• 8:54 – 11:46 Does Lucy feel American? Identity and belonging after growing up outside the US
• 11:46 – 16:00 From undeclared to English major, how Lucy found editing
• 16:00 – 19:21 What an editor actually does and why that matters in the age of AI
• 19:21 – 21:03 Amplifying voices that don't get heard, AAPI Month and using privilege well
• 21:03 – 24:22 Life after graduation, job hunting, side gigs and staying open
• 24:22 – 27:21 Where even is home now, parents in Istanbul, sister in Berkeley, lease ending in August
• 27:21 – 29:46 Lucy's favorite place she's lived, the case for Peru
• 29:46 – 30:50 Dream publications and wrapping up the interview

650.701.7686 (o)

650.332.2739 (f)

510.673.8712 (m)

Sports & Dance Rehab | Pilates | Group Classes

On the Move Physical Therapy

501-D Old County Rd.

Belmont, CA 94002

web - http://www.onthemovephysio.com

email - alyssa@onthemovephysio.com

IG - https://www.instagram.com/onthemovephysio

This week, Alyssa and Nadia finally get into the topic Alyssa has been trying to crack open for months, Nadia's love life. What started as a casual mention, "don't make a big deal out of this, but I'm going on a third date," has since turned into something real, and this episode is basically the full update.

Alyssa starts by breaking down the modern dating vocabulary she had to learn in real time. Where her generation had “going steady,” Nadia’s world has a whole ladder of stages, talking, dating, exclusive, official. From the outside it can feel confusing or noncommittal, but Nadia explains why those steps actually make sense and how things naturally shift as feelings change.

From there they get into how it all started. A Hinge match in February, a first date, and a third date that felt different enough that Nadia had to say something. Nadia talks about what made her nervous, not safety stuff, just the vulnerability of getting to know someone after a long stretch of being comfortable on her own.

The episode gets warmer and more reflective when Alyssa asks what made this particular person easy to talk to. Nadia points to compatible personalities and a shared Bay Area background, something she didn't realize mattered until it did. Alyssa connects it to her own relationship with Nadia's dad and how small points of connection quietly build something bigger over time.

The practical side gets addressed too. He graduated and moved back to the Bay Area while Nadia is still in Boston for co-op, studying for the MCATs, and figuring out her next semester. Long distance isn't the plan, it's just the current situation. But since home is the same place for both of them, it doesn't really feel like an ending, more like a pause.

The episode wraps up with Alyssa floating the idea of DMing him or his mom for a coffee date, Nadia drawing a very firm line, and a rare public shoutout to Sean, who apparently gave his blessing for all of this.

Takeaways

• The modern dating timeline has more stages than previous generations had words for and that's not confusion, it's just how things work now

• Going in with no expectations can actually be a healthy way to approach dating, especially when feelings genuinely evolve over time

• The fear of vulnerability after a long period of being single is just as real as any other kind of dating anxiety

• Having people in your corner, roommates, friends, even a very invested mom, can make the difference between giving up and giving it a shot

• Shared background and cultural touchstones create an ease that's hard to explain but impossible to ignore

• A situationship is only frustrating when nothing comes out of it. When something does, it just becomes the beginning

• Long distance is more manageable when home is the same place for both people

• There's a real difference between a parent being involved because they're pushy and a parent being involved because they genuinely want to share in the good stuff

• Sometimes the reason you never talked about your dating life on the podcast is simply that there was nothing worth saying until there was

Chapters

0:10 – 1:24 — Catching Up and Setting the Stage

1:24 – 4:15 — Third Date Energy, How This All Started

4:15 – 7:00 — Dating Vocab Then vs. Now

7:00 – 9:35 — Being the Last Single One in the Apartment

9:35 – 12:00 — What Was Actually Scary About It

12:00 – 15:20 — Why He Was Easy to Talk To

15:20 – 18:10 — What Shared Background Actually Does for a Relationship

18:10 – 21:00 — Long Distance (Sort Of)

21:00 – 23:55 — Situationships, Labels, and Why Nadia Doesn't Love That Word

23:55 – 27:47 — The Official Shoutout, the Coffee Date Offer, and Signing Off

650.701.7686 (o)

650.332.2739 (f)

510.673.8712 (m)

Sports & Dance Rehab | Pilates | Group Classes

On the Move Physical Therapy

501-D Old County Rd.

Belmont, CA 94002

web - http://www.onthemovephysio.com

email - alyssa@onthemovephysio.com

IG - https://www.instagram.com/onthemovephysio