There are many times that I find myself thinking “wow I am actually here.” It’s not always that exact thought, but something like it. There is always the same feeling with the thought. I don't even know how to begin to explain the feeling, but I can tell you that it is wonderful. The thought stops me in my tracks, and a smile always is painted on my face. Even though this thought keeps popping into my head, each time it feels like a whole new feeling. I never really thought about this much, but it’s really weird to feel a feeling for the first time. It’s like you have found another little puzzle piece to life. Time passes by, you become familiar with the feeling and it doesn't hold as much magic as the first times. This is really hard concept to explain through text, but I hope you understand me a little. I don't think the magic of this feeling/thought is ever going to fade. I don’t think I’m ever going to get use to the fact that I am here in Argentina. Even as my days start to get uniform and I begin to simply live life, I still feel as if I am living a dream. Just about three weeks ago, I spent my days lifeguarding or babysitting, and now I sitting in one of the prettiest places I have ever seen on the Uruguay river. Wow. How the heck did this happen to me? I feel so incredibly fortunate. I have really experienced the fact that life can be truly amazing if you take the opportunities you are given. If I wouldn't have jumped at this opportunity, I would be taking classes at college right now. Honestly that is the last thing I want to do. A big reason for doing this gap year is because I don't know what I want to do with my life. I don't know enough about myself to choose what I want to do for the rest of my life. Already on this adventure I have learned so much about myself. Being alone in a foreign place will do that to you. Being here shows me a new way of living life. I get to choose my own opinions on wether I like or dislike things. There are no parents or friends to make me second guess my initial thoughts. I have to trust myself and my intuition. That’s huge. I am creating opinions and beliefs for myself on how I really want to live my life. Meeting people from all walks of life has a huge effect on my opinions too. There is so many ways to do so many different things in this life. I am finding more and more about how I want to do things in my life everyday.
A ton has happened in these past two weeks. I wish I could share everything, but then you would be reading a whole book. So I am going to just keep this to three special events from these last two weeks. My first event is actually two in one and it is sad. The first week I got here I met all the other exchange students that live in Posadas. There was two boys from Germany, Leon and Laurenz, and two girls, one from Germany, Karen, and the other from Denmark, Fiona. They are all so amazing and it’s so refreshing to have people here that are going through the same thing as me. Sadly, two of them, Laurenz and Karen, left last week. They were on the short-term exchange for only two months. In just the short time I got to know them, I feel as if they are already good friends of mine. It’s just sad that my time with them was so short. This has me thinking that I really need to meet everyone here and make connections because when you think about it, 9 months isn't that long in the grand scheme of things. I made sure that both Laurenz and Karen knew that it wasn't a goodbye, just a see you later. (2018 Spring break in Germany mom and dad??;) ) This second event is a two in one also.. LOL sorry. The second weekend I was here, my host family and I made a quick trip up to a place called Yucuma Lodge for Saturday night. I also got to bring Fiona, the exchange student from Denmark. My host parents own Yucuma Lodge. It set of 6 cabins in the forest on a spout that flows from the Uruguay which is the border of Brazil. The cabins are rented out to tourist. It is absolutely beautiful and one of the most relaxing places I have ever been. It reminds me of my cabin back home, which is my favorite place on this earth. On our way there, we stopped in the town of Obera which was celebrating the Immigrant Festival. It is a festival to celebrate all the different kinds of cultures from around the world that live in Argentina. Here, there was lots of little shops, food, dancing, music, and tradition. It was so cute. I find it so amazing that they come together to celebrate all the cultures that have helped Argentina be the way it is. We couldn't stay at the festival for long because it was already the late afternoon and the cabins were still 3 hours away. I did get to try my first Argentinian asado there. Asado is a barbecue of a lot of different types of meat, and boy was it good. We walked around different shops. It was interesting to see all the different types of things. Best of all we bought A LOT of chocolate:) After the festival we made our trek to the cabins. Right when I got here it felt like paradise. On Sunday, we got to pick and try a lot of different plants that they have growing here, including a yellow orange, and hike a trail that leads to a spectacular view of the hills and the Uruguay River. It was one of my favorite days that I have had here in Argentina. We headed back home after lunch. I am back at Yucuma lodge right now because I didn't have school yesterday and today. This time it just me and my host parents. They are doing work around the cabins, so I have gotten sometime to explore by myself. I went on a couple different trials yesterday and they are absolutely amazing. One leads to this little stop where you can sit with a perfect view of the water and trees. It’s been really nice to get time to reflect on everything that has been happening. My last event happened this passed Friday. In Posadas, all the schools participate in this thing called the “estudiantina”. It is basically like a big parade. The girls make this extravagant dresses full of sequences. There is a choreographed dance, which most of the girls participate in, and there is a drum band, which is mostly made up of boys. Each school’s performance is different and it is a competition to see what school is the best. They practice for three months getting the beat and routine down perfectly. The final showing is in October. Sadly, I came too late in the year to be able to participate in it. I would have loved to. Anyways, their first big practice with all the schools was on Friday. I spend most of the day down at the costanera with some of the girls from my class watching different schools. It was just a lot of fun and amazing to see how important this is to all of them. I got to watch my school do their show and cheer them on. It reminded me of going to something school event like a football game back in the US. There is something about school pride that makes me really happy. Well there you have it… My three events. The language part is getting better (doulingo even said I was 30% fluent so waaahoo). There are still moments when I feel homesick, but they usually happen when I’m sitting alone in my room bored, so I just try to avoid that. Other than that I am doing good. I have really started to take this experience for myself, and focusing on how I can grow. Thanks for reading chicos! Chao for now:)
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AuthorHello or should I say Hola! I am Molly McLaughlin. I just graduated from high school in Iowa, and now I am taking a gap year to be a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Argentina! Go to my ABOUT page to learn more. Archives
November 2017
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