A music video of a collection of the videos i have taken so far on this trip. I picked the song for you dad! Make sure you watch till the end. The end is my favorite.
The title refers to what everyone has been asking me the past few week… and it’s true I haven’t blogged and I do feel guilty about it. I’m sorry that I haven’t been keep everyone up to date but lately I’ve been so busy with dancing after school, trying so desperately to learn Spanish, and just having time to think of nothing that it’s been hard to blog.
I’m at school from 8 in the morning till 5, then have an hour bus ride home so I walk in the door of my house every day at around 6:15 then after eating and taking with my padres I finely change out of my school uniform at 8 and at that point I want to change into my pajamas, watch Yo Soy with my parents and scroll through facebook to see what’s going on back home. And that is my everyday. It’s not physically taxing, just mentally. Right now there is a CRAP TON of pressure on us to learn Spanish so I carry around little flash cards and practice on the bus and practice with my mama and papa but after a while you do get tired. It’s like constantly studding for a huge test. Your mind is mush at the end of the day and all you want to do is vege. The other day on the bus there was a brief moment that I thought I smelled my house in the United States. It was fleeting but it was still there. When I got home 10 minutes later I just lied on my bed thinking about home. Remembering what it was like to sit around with my family curled up in our big soft quilts, while we watched Star wars. I would usually pop popcorn and we would drink tea out of the big cups with ice cubes in them. I haven’t had a drink with a single ice cube in it for 2 months. Then my mind wonders even farther then ice cubes and thinks about grandma’s special tea or the way my dad’s footsteps sound when you’re in the basement and he finally gets home from work. Then before I know it I’ve been staring at the ceiling for 10 minutes just thinking. Or not thinking. I’ve never not thought so much in my life. I’m the kind of person that’s always thinking, dreaming, or analyzing. I don’t know why but it’s just who I am. But here it’s nice to just not think. It’s quiet and peaceful. No traffic or Spanish. No broken English or things to do. No worries about world affairs or how grandma is doing. Please don’ let this blog trouble you. I’m having the time of my life. I carry my camera in my book bag and take pictures of everything. From a bug on my hand to the street vender on the corner. I smile and laugh more each day as I slowly learn that my family is actually quite funny. I dream about the next step in life and wonder where this experience will lead me when I get home. I’ve changed a lot. Definitely for the better. I’m happy because I want to be happy. I’ve learned complete emotional control. I cry only when I let myself and I don’t let little things bother me like only having one writing utensil for school. Enough is enough. People can call me stupid or dumb to the whole class and I don’t mind really. If they need to proclaim my inabilities to the whole class to make themselves feel better then whatever. I’m doing the best I can. I’ve become more mature in that regard. Well that’s enough rambling for one day. I’m going to go to my Tia’s shop next door and hangout over there until my parents get back from work. Thank you all for the support! Sincerely, The Deepest Part of Carmen’s Thoughts. There is so much to blog about but I have no motivation to do it. The excitement of blogging for people to read about what I’m doing has died and been replaced by a grouch that would rather sleep or eat pollo(that’s Spanish for chicken). Anyway this is me attempting to step back into the hard working farm girl that I must have lost on the bus somewhere.
To be honest I think things from home are starting to fade for me. When people ask if all we eat in the USA is hamburgers I say no then can’t remember what else we eat. Then sometimes I can’t believe that we do things differentially in the like not carrying around apples and oranges for a snack. I can’t believe I use to drink water straight from the tap and that our cups are so big. It’s the little things that I’m use to now. I’m pretty sure I’ll be surprised when I go home… This week’s goal is to update my blog about my adventures because I’ve been doing some cool stuff. This blog however will just be me saying I’ve come this far and have had the most confusing, fun, learning experience of my life so I think I will be okay with staying the rest of the year. I’ve missed the first campout in 18 years, I’m about to miss my little brothers 13th birthday, I’ve missed my cousin coming home from rehab in Georgia and… I’ve accepted it. Skype and Facebook help keep me in the loop and I’ll be back for the next 18 years with a new language in my pocket so the hardship will be well worth it. I’ll leave you with this: Do the hard. Smile a lot. Don’t be afraid to mess up. If you don’t at least try, You will have never done. It’s okay to cry. As long as you pick yourself up and move on. Make a scary situation fun by smiling and calling it an adventure. Love people. Even if they are different. Love yourself. Even if you have changed. Thank you everyone for reading and understanding! Mom your my accountability partner, If I haven’t posted about my adventures… well I don’t I know what you can do to me countries away but do something to make me! It's hard for me to believe that it is September already. Some days I feel like I've been year for months but then other days it only seems like a few weeks. So the blogging plan for the next weeks is go through my pictures and videos I've been taking and do cool stuff with them on here... that was terrible English but whatever. Like I said before I'm starting to settle in and am doing great excepting the culture. I wish the language would come faster for me but I think every exchange student wishes for that at this point in their exchange. The video below is a video I made for my rotary club to show them my house in the states and my family. The loved it so much I decided to put it on my blog, and I guarantee it won't be the last of it's kind. *wink, wink |
AuthorJust a country girl from Indiana about to embark on a trip of a life time with Rotary Youth Exchange! Blogging Action
June 2016
Check this Out!Present Exchange Student's Blogs |