Growth, Finding a Reality...

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." ~G.K. Chesterton

I think today's rain has motivated me to be productive, or at least pensive (therefore the double-posting). While out enjoying some drinks with my ladies the other night we got to discussing what we've learned here: about South America, other countries, our own country, and ourselves. So much that goes on in our world is quietly swept under a rug. Our televisions and newspapers are filled with ridiculous celebrity feuds, economic woes, and little happiness or joy. Unfortunately there is so much more out there that adds to an already dark existence. As we are taught in history classes, the U.S. has participated in many wars, wars that are gruesome and still hurting those who fought for our freedom and power. What isn't known is that the U.S. also had a large part in many other small wars between other countries, and most often than not that involvement was not helpful. Power-hungry. Why should we be meddling in the affairs of others when we cannot even stabilize our own government? Sure some countries may need financial help, but in the cases of Chile and Argentina, my take is that the U.S. just added to their troubles. I'm not a person of politics in any way, in fact, I often avoid politics due to it's dirtyness...little did I know how dirty it actually was.

My opinions aside, what this brought about was a realization that other countries are struggling at this moment to create a better world for themselves. They may not need the help of the American government, but they do need help. Widely reknowned, the PeaceCorp is a great opportunity for us to lend a hand in those stepping stones to peace and stability in hurting countries. I'm sure there are other similar programs, and as the job market plummets they are a great alternative and way to change lives: yours and theirs. I've said before how much I've learned here, and am anxious and nervous to see how I will view my own country and the opinions of my friends and family upon arrival in the U.S.

That was a little messy, but I hope you got a little something out of it. Ignorance is a hinderance, don't let it claim you as it does the majority of our self-centered country. Be a person of the world-Explore, Question, Learn.

*image (Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires, Argentina)- "Dictatorship: 30,000 Disappeared. Kirchner (former President) more political prisoners than ever since the 'democracy'. The economic system imposed on the blood remains the same ..."

Futures

"Hey now, the past is told by those who win, my darling
What matters is what hasn't been
Hey now, we're wide awake and we're thinking
My darling, believe your voice can mean something"

Even if you're not a Jimmy Eat World fan I highly suggest their song Futures purely for the lyrics. iTunes it, listen to it, love it...

As should be apparent, the future has definitely been weighing on my mind lately. 31 days until I find myself back in the "comfort" of our beloved country. I simply cannot wait for reliably hot showers, warm weather, the ability to cook my own food (and long forgotten foods at that), complete independence, and much more. On the flipside, I am not at all looking forward to continuing my job search, finding an apartment and eventually a car. This whole growing up thing seems to be a lot harder than people let on :( I had been looking forward to escaping school, but now I just wish I could use some Harry Potter powers to make everything easy.

So many questions overfill my brain each day...most likely I will not have secured a job before heading back to the U.S. Therefore, where should I live? I can go home to my beautiful Bellingham and find friends to live with while I work for a couple years to get on my feet. I've gone without a car there before due to the amazing bus system, which would cut costs, and could relocate to Seattle or elsewhere later on. OR I could live with my grandparents about an hr away from Seattle and commute for interviews until I find an apartment, etc. I would need to rely on other family members to get me to and from ferry, use cars when available, etc. and I would have very little to do, or people to visit, as my grandparents travel frequently with their jobs. Hmmmm...perhaps I shall make a cost's table for each option to see which is the cheaper option.

Anyways, upon graduation you will most likely have similar thoughts...and here's hoping that the job market will be more accepting for you. Today's reality definitely goes to show how hard you need to work to guarantee yourself success following education. SU has soooo much to offer when it comes to involvement: Greek life, student organizations: academic, arts, entertainment, government, etc., and TRADITIONS! These things really stand out on resume's, as well as internships in your preferred field. Get crackin'! but most importantly, have FUN!

"Graduation is only a Concept...

"Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you'll make a difference." ~Arie Pencovici

This past week/weekend has been a little tough for me. I hear and read about all the fun times my fellow seniors are having celebrating the end of time as undergrad's at Syracuse University. Today was the general commencement with speaker Joe Biden (as I've mentioned before...) and it's bittersweet that I could not join them. Yet, when I found the quote above I realized that I don't need a ceremony to show or tell me that I am graduating...especially since in reality I don't actually graduate until I'm finished here in July. As I study abroad here in this amazing city of Santiago, I've beginning to see that each day I spend here is teaching me something that I will never forget. It's teaching me to be a person who appreciates everything that I've come from, to appreciate the U.S. and its advantages it has granted me thoughout my life. Living as an exchange student in a host family, I am allowed the privilege of walking in the shoes of another culture.I am slowly understanding international affairs, the persective of another country on my own, and so many other things I can't yet put words to.

Friday our program had a workshop in which we got to share all of our cultural experiences, good and bad, with one another and our directors. Most people agreed that it is extremely difficult to find chilean friends as they have tight circles, and even hard to spend time with their chilean families for various reasons. Everyone misses family and friends back home more than they ever imagined, and often feel sad/lonely as a result. This is what our directors explained to us was part of the culture shock, especially since we are here for almost 5 months. It's hard to deal with so much change for so long when there is nothing familiar to cling onto. However, we've done a good job of keeping in touch with one another and taking time out from our chilean families when need be. It's all part of the learning process that in the end, we will look back on and be grateful for.

Happy Mothers Day, and...

To all my fellow grads: "All that stands between the graduate and the top of the ladder is the ladder." Let's go conquer the world!

Just keep swimmin'...

Whoa there! Whoever said studying abroad is a breeze may not have studied abroad in Chile. Of the 3 classes I'm taking, one is in a completely Chilean environment...Chilean teacher, Chilean students, Chilean material, etc. At first when I experienced frustration I put it on being new to the way of teaching and not being accustomed to the language. I can no longer use those excuses, and it's a little tougher than I had previously heard. Although, I do believe I will make it through...with a little help from my tandem partner (Chilean student whom I meet with once a week to exchange help with one anothers languages...great program for meeting local people and local sayings "chileanisms") and the class "ayudantes," aka teachers helpers.

On another front...heading a little south this weekend with the group for Pucon. Looking forward to escaping reality for a few days and adventuring up volcanoes, down whitewater rapids, and zip-lining through tropical jungles!

Senioritis

Although being in Chile with only 3 classes seems like it would be a breeze, I'm definitely still feeling the effects of good 'ole Senioritis. 11:30 class is the devil, and that's the earliest I ever have to get up for class! I don't think it helps that this beautiful city of Santiago has so many things for me to do, and so much sunny weather to enjoy. I just keep telling myself that I've got it made, and that before I know it I'm gonna be wishing I was still in college. That last statement=craziness, but so many people have quoted it to me that it must be true.

It's hard to believe that my fellow grad's this year will be walking in commencement and basking in the wisdomatic speech of Joe Biden in just less than a month...without me :( I wouldn't trade this experience for the world, but a part of me wishes I were participating in all of the Traditions I've had such a large role in upholding. I'm thinking someone should make a live video so I can pretend I'm there for everything ;)

With graduation about 3 months away for me, I've found myself drowning in resumes, coverletters, and job search engines. I'm super glad I utilized the career center for perfecting said resumes and coverletters, but feel as if I am going nowhere. Who knows when I might begin getting responses, or if I will at all. This is one area of uncertainty I'm certainly not comfortable with. Someone just hire me already, and rid my brain of all this fear for my future! But then again, it's hard to fret too much here in paradise...

It's been a While

For some reason I thought I had written once or twice since Ecuador, but I guess I've lost my mind amidst all this travelling mayhem! I've got quite a lot to catch up on...

I am now in Santiago, Chile where classes have only just begun. This will be my second week of class, as the students at SU are returning from Spring Break to finish up the second half of the semester. When we first arrived in Chile, we had a 2 week seminar in which we visited the heart of tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina and then the sandy beaches of Montevideo, Uruguay. Quite different but amazing sights to see! Now we are adjusting to life as true Chilean students in Santiago with our host families. I seriously got the cream of the crop when it comes to host families. They treat me as one of their own, help me with my spanish, and are extemely easy to talk to. It's easy to see that they want me to get as much out of this study abroad experience as possible.

Registration for classes, and classes themselves are quite different here. In order to register for classes at U.Catolica you have to visit each College within the University in which you have classes and receive a stamp and signature per class. Not so easy if you're taking a lot of classes in different areas. The campuses are spread throughout the city and not necessarily nearby. However, at U.Chile they have a lovely online system somewhat similar to Syracuse-supereasy. Lucky for me, I didn't really have to deal with too much as I am taking just 3 classes, and only had to register for 1 as the others are automatically registered for study abroad. Classes are lectures only, and not much else. Depending on the class, you may have to write a few papers, take tests, quizzes, etc. but there isn't a schedule for when these might occur. You've gotta stay on your toes and keep up with your notes and readings!

Now that I've been out of the country for over a month, I've found these things I miss most from home: reliably hot showers, clothing dryers, movie popcorn (dissappointing to get kettlecorn at theatre), simple foods like cereal, PB and J, and English (my brain swims with all the new spanish i'm learning) :

Midterms and Finals all at Once :(

I swear Ecuador just keeps getting better and better. At first I had to work pretty hard to get my host family to talk to me, but since attending two different family birthday parties they've seemed to open up quite a bit. And boy are families gigantic here! My host mom is the grandma of the family with 10 children, all whom have spouses and 2-3 children each! It was fun to talk to some locals my age though...I made good friends with my cousins, and was grilled by my aunts and uncles about what my family thinks about my being here, and my thoughts on Obama :) I do have to say that my head was ridiculously overloaded with spanish afterwards, but it was a great learning experience. On Sunday after one of the parties I headed to a Sports bar at the local mall to watch the Superbowl with some friends. We had tons of fun with the 3 liter tubes of beer and good food they had, not to mention the exciting game even though the Cards lost :(
Saturday we had a group field trip to Cajas National Park where we had a nice hike through the park and learned about all the different types of trees, plants, and flowers. Of course I can't remember any of them, but they were pretty. There was even a eucalyptus tree forest! After returning to Cuenca and resting at our homes for a few hours we met up at a Sushi restaurant to celebrate Emily's birthday and go out together.
Midterms came and went in a flash since we have just one week left here. Our professor split the group into 2 for a conversation/debate of the cultural differences between Ecuador and the U.S. We all rocked it, although some definitely did more than their fair share of talking. Our final projects are due on Tuesday, so we are all trying to get a large majority of it done today so we can enjoy our weekend trip to the beach starting tomorrow. A 5-pg paper completely in Spanish accompanied by a 30 minute presentation to the class, ugh! My partner and I are focusing on Ecuador immigration to the U.S. which is pretty interesting as the majority of the immigrants are from the province of Azuay which is where we are.

Ciao mis amigos!

Ecuador!

The study abroad travels have begun and let's just say it's absolutely incredibly SPECTACULAR! The first few days we visited Quito and Otovalo, Ecuador. My group has about 24 people in it with only 6 guys! We all get along super well and have quite a group personality. In Otovalo, 6 of us girls found a sweet Italian restuarant (I know we should be eating the traditional foods, but really? we'll be here for a while) and then a hookah bar where we made local friends and tried some salsa dancing. Our last night in Quito we went to the main Plaza for dinner and more dancing! Super fun bonding time...but the no class-time has ended and we are now in Cuenca for our Spanish immersion program before heading to Santiago, Chile. I'm in SPA380 which is a conversation class based on Ecuadorian and Latin America culture. Not too bad, but I feel like it's a bit of a repeat sometimes as I took a Latin American studies (LAS) class last Winter. The school that we attend is called CEDEI and they have activities for us most afternoons like city tours with scavenger hunts, dance and cooking classes, and field trips on the weekends. I attend class from 10:30-12:30, walk the 15 minutes home for lunch, then head back around 3 if there is an activity. Just gotta be home by 7 for dinner, and then freetime. Speaking of dinner, it's about that time for me to start walking...Adios!

¡Dos Días hasta Aventura!

(2 Days until Adventure!)

Having done the majority of my packing already, today i have merely done laundry and reflected back on Syracuse. For students regretfully not studying abroad this semester, classes begun in Syracuse, NY today. I do miss the feeling of returning back to good friends full of great vacation stories. However, nothing compares to the excitement of new travels.

Things I'll Miss in Syracuse:
1. Traditions Commission

2. Happy Hour at Maggie's and the Sheraton
3. Flip Night at Faegan's
4. Slocum Heights
5. working in HR...strange? a little, but those people are amazing and i learned sooo much
6. there are more, i'm just lacking the words right now