one is fun/done/just begun
QOTD:
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
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The final day in Costa Rica. The end of my 7-month traveling spree. In Costa Rica, my Spanish has improved immensely: I took an practice entrance exam to the Monterrey Institute of International Studies translation and interpretation program and got a high, passing score (I'm considering a career in interpretation, and that's the best place to learn it). I met some amazing people who will be friends for life. I founds peace living with a tight-knit family of 5 strangers in a house smaller than a Clairmont Tower apartment. And, most of all, I came. Despite everything - my fears about getting by with my Spanish and meeting a whole new group of people, my medical issues, and the uncertainty of going away from home for the longest period of time I'd ever experienced. Now I can write "I was here" on the Costa Rican map.
On the plane ride over to study abroad, I thought I was going to accomplish big things - save a village or two, be active in the journalism community. It didn't turn out that way. I gave up on going to the Semanario Universidad meetings because there was no way my written Spanish would improve fast enough for them to let me write my own stories until maybe the end of my studies, and they only covered round tables and anti-CAFTA marches anyway. The work at the Tico Times wasn't worth the tranportation time/money and the loss of time spent exploring the country with friends here. But I think that I learned more not doing everything. Sometimes, one can rush through things if one makes too many plans. I spent most of my time getting to know people and places. To me, the process of knowing contains an invaluable knowledge, and though there must be more to know here, I feel accomplished as I am. I am ready to go home, and to take my time getting to know things there again.
We lost another one yesterday. Amanda is now on her way to the airport to go back to Atlanta. I was disappointed when she said she had already told David (her boyfriend) that she was going to change her flight, because we'd planned to sit together on the plane and order wine and celebrate our departure date. But she was always the most anxious of all of us to get home, so I know she's happy, and there will be sangrias to drink on Sunday.
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
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The final day in Costa Rica. The end of my 7-month traveling spree. In Costa Rica, my Spanish has improved immensely: I took an practice entrance exam to the Monterrey Institute of International Studies translation and interpretation program and got a high, passing score (I'm considering a career in interpretation, and that's the best place to learn it). I met some amazing people who will be friends for life. I founds peace living with a tight-knit family of 5 strangers in a house smaller than a Clairmont Tower apartment. And, most of all, I came. Despite everything - my fears about getting by with my Spanish and meeting a whole new group of people, my medical issues, and the uncertainty of going away from home for the longest period of time I'd ever experienced. Now I can write "I was here" on the Costa Rican map.
On the plane ride over to study abroad, I thought I was going to accomplish big things - save a village or two, be active in the journalism community. It didn't turn out that way. I gave up on going to the Semanario Universidad meetings because there was no way my written Spanish would improve fast enough for them to let me write my own stories until maybe the end of my studies, and they only covered round tables and anti-CAFTA marches anyway. The work at the Tico Times wasn't worth the tranportation time/money and the loss of time spent exploring the country with friends here. But I think that I learned more not doing everything. Sometimes, one can rush through things if one makes too many plans. I spent most of my time getting to know people and places. To me, the process of knowing contains an invaluable knowledge, and though there must be more to know here, I feel accomplished as I am. I am ready to go home, and to take my time getting to know things there again.
We lost another one yesterday. Amanda is now on her way to the airport to go back to Atlanta. I was disappointed when she said she had already told David (her boyfriend) that she was going to change her flight, because we'd planned to sit together on the plane and order wine and celebrate our departure date. But she was always the most anxious of all of us to get home, so I know she's happy, and there will be sangrias to drink on Sunday.