Halfway There

I am officially done my first semester abroad here in England and am halfway through my year abroad. I have been so fortunate to have made the friends I have here and to have had so many amazing new experiences. Thanks to all the working and saving I've done the past three summers (and the fact that travel is cheaper here than in America) I will have been privileged enough to have already managed to explore ten different countries by the time next semester begins, and hopefully brings me to more of them. I have had so many adventures but the best part of everywhere that I have been is that I have been there with friends. I wish that we could all do this as a group, there were so many times when I saw or did something new and wished that you all were there with me. I wish I could've climbed a mountain with you Wendy, or gone all weekend partying with you Martin. I am so glad I have been able to see both Breigh and Chris this semester, I had so much fun exploring your cities (and I can't wait to show Chris around mine). My time here has been so full of change, both positive and negative, that I simultaneously wish you were all here having tea time with me and that we were all back at Dickinson for mac and cheese day (the best of all Dickinson days). I cannot even begin to imagine what a whole other six months here will be like but I also could not picture myself going home yet. I am only halfway through this adventure of mine, and it is constantly changing every day. Whether I have a week of travel or one of studying, I am always thinking of all the fun we would all have together if we were all here. So even though I look forward to the upcoming semester, I also can't wait to sit with you all in the caf next year.

it's a not goodbye kind of bye (wait that doesnt make sense oh well)

What better time to write than at 4 am in the morning while I pack to go back home? Yes that is correct I am leaving Argentina tomorrow and the feeling is bitter sweet. On the one hand I am more than excited to see my family and friends again but I feel as if I leave a piece of my heart mind and soul here in Mendoza.

This experience has been incredibly unreal from climbing mountains to pray to the Pachamama in Ecuador to stuffing my face with asado for countless meals in Argentina. I leave with a world of experiences that I am so grateful to have had and many new relationships with inspiring and genuine individuals.

I went abroad with the intention of experiencing a new culture and broadening my horizons and all that cliché stuff and along the way I’ve found a small piece of myself. I think I have to say that I have never been so proud to be Latina and I truly am lucky that I can connect to this vast and beautifully diverse region. I guess it’s been hard to write on here and now sum up my experiences simply because (as many of you know) the question “how was/ is abroad?” is quite daunting. It’s hard to encompass tubing down the napo river in the amazon, eating mountains of rice in Ecuador, walking an hour to get to school (NO ONE FREAKING COMPLAIN ABOUT HAVING TO WALK FROM GOODYEAR TO DENNY!!!), sharing mate, riding the bus to school that is so full I sometimes felt like I was going to fall out the door, building up the courage to move out of my first home stay and bonding with my professors family when no one else could take me in. We are so freaking small in this universe and it truly has humbled me meeting people who have each given me a piece of something new. It kind of feels as If life were a jigsaw puzzle made up of tiny pieces of events and people who have touched you.  Besides the Mendocinos who have welcomed me into their lives I also somewhere along the way grew an immense love and appreciation for each one of the 11 other Dickinsonians on this trip with me. I’ve been planning on studying abroad since high school and now that my first semester of it is coming to a close its unbelievable how fast time flies from my highest highs to lowest lows I wouldn’t have changed a single thing about this semester. Going home most definitely doesn’t mean good bye just simply an end of this particular chapter for now.

I love each and every one of you unbelievably so and I hope your semesters are also wrapping up nicely!!! As for those of you who will be in LA in the next three weeks I expect to see you!!!!!!!!! not a suggestion, it’s a demand!!!