Que Bonita es Esta Vida

I never got to actually study abroad. Well, I shouldn’t say “got to,” because the opportunity was always there for me to choose (like all things in life), but instead I found myself wrapped up in the commitment of a year-round dance team. And then, just when I had finally figured everything out, when I realized that making time for several months abroad was critical to my learning and growing into the type of person I wanted to become, Thomas became sick. Most of you know what followed that. My date to leave the country for an independent study in Ayacucho had been slated for Feb 10th 2007. It was supposed to last 4 months. Thomas died Feb 7th 2007. You couldn’t have dragged me out of the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania if you tried. So I made a new plan. I invited my sister along and Julie hopped on the bandwagon. My only option was the one-month program by that time, and that started in June. I happily switched and had the trip of a lifetime. I made friends abroad who were from the U.S. (specially you Anna) as well as friends in other countries. Oh yeah, and I met a cousin who I had no idea existed and toured the home-city and country of my father (Bogota, Colombia). I have been very blessed with these opportunities and experiences and they changed me invariably and left me thirsty for more. To see cultures and geography that most people never see is an opportunity to discover more than just oneself – now I know what I am missing wherever I go, and by the same token, I am more thankful for what I am not (and never have been) missing. The decision to return to South America was three-fold: to perfect the Spanish language and market myself as bilingual on my resume, to revisit my volunteer site from last summer in Ayacucho and mostly, to take the trip that I have always meant to take – my semester abroad. This has always been part of my life-plan and I am not at all overwhelmed by the fact that it is finally here. I am simply ready for it to begin, ready to transform my mind into a sponge and soak up every last bit of this country and language before I return to the States with a greater sense of what I can do without my posse (I’m sorry ‘Circle’) and a badass resume.