Wow, so exactly a month from today, I will be on a plane on my way back to the United States. I can't believe I'm 4 out of 5 months in. This has been the craziest experience of my life and has caused me to feel so many extreme feelings like anger and then love, I'm annoyed and then I'm perfectly content, I'm sad and then I'm super happy. It is indescribable, even though I try my best to describe it on here and I will try my best when I go back and people ask me about the experience.
When I came to the realization that I only had 7 weeks left, that was a small enough of a number to freak me out about how little time we have left in Buenos Aires and Argentina. At this point, I think I started to appreciate the city even more and make an even larger attempt to appreciate every day here and take advantage of every hour I have left in this incredible place.
I had made a list of to-do's based off of my Lonely Planet Buenos Aires guidebook (highly recommended, by the way, it hasn't led me astray yet, except for prices, which isn't their fault, because of the massive and rapid inflation). I made a modified list and have been trying to see a new place or do something new or eat something new at least once a day to take full advantage of my time here.
I also have been doing a lot of searching inside, and this may be in part because I started using an app called Headspace that has daily meditations. Mindfulness is something that I have always strived to incorporate into my life more but have never really tried that seriously, but is something that when provided with a time-sensitive opportunity like this, really helps to use. The main idea that I have been telling myself a lot is to not compare myself to others, and I think this is a HUGE key in life, and something you have to learn in your 20s, not just for people studying abroad. It's so hard not to do, especially in school, when it usually makes life easier to do what everyone else is doing and wear what everyone else is wearing, etc. At the beginning of my trip here, I kept doing just that: I was comparing myself to other people on exchanges here and from Hendrix all over the world. The main part of this was with friends. I am a pretty outgoing person and have a fairly easy time making friends, but here, it has been more difficult than I expected to find Argentine friends. I have met some really amazing people more casually, but only have a couple that I would actually ask to hang out with outside of class or other set situations. But, I have come to appreciate them and also my American friends (even though at first I felt almost guilty for hanging out with Americans, like I should branch out more). But I'm gonna miss my ARMA girls so much (inside joke, ya know who you are).
I have also been trying to bond more with my other housemates, and especially my roommate and I have good conversations about the differences between here and the US and stuff. I know I'm gonna miss the craziness of living with 8 other people when I go back, even though sometimes there is nowhere quiet to study!
Every time I find myself somewhere new in Buenos Aires I am in further disbelief of how amazing the city is and how much I'm going to miss it. I am strongly considering coming back here to teach English (like I'm planning on doing after I graduate), I love it that much, and I think I will have a better gauge on that once I go home also.
Overall, I know I'm going to be heartbroken to leave, but I know I will come back to Argentina someday, there are too many place that I haven't seen around the country!! But also I can't complain, because I'm going BA-Atlanta-New York-ITALY!
Can't wait to tell ya'll more about it in person and hear about everyone from Hendy's experiences!
Beso enorme!
-Anna
