More Travel Lessons...
I am a little nervous about coming home. I started thinking about everything I have to do when I get back and it is overwhelming. It´s always overwhelming, but this is the longest I´ve been away so it´s the most overwhelming it´s ever been for me. I am trying to divert my attention by reading lots of The Brothers Karamazov, which is taking me back to fond days in Professor Michalson´s Varieties of Religious Existentialism class. Even more importantly, I need to maintain a certain level of relaxation the next month before I start law school. Luckily as soon as I return I have another trip to look forward to; L.A.!
The last couple of days were really nice in Esteli, and even Managua wasn´t too bad. I kind of love Nicaragua. It´s very much Central American, but they have some things in common with the U.S. They love baseball, people listen to western like music and wear cowboy hats, people are so tired of corruption they don´t care to vote, and everyone´s an entrepreneaur selling something. Spending the anniversary of the revolution there I started thinking about what it was like in the U.S. celebrating the 4th of July 27 years after the revolution. It´s a weird feeling.
-Homesickness is really hard but it starts to fade after about a month (I think). I met someone a couple days ago who had to return from a trip to Europe early because her friend missed her boyfriend too much. That´s lame. Unless he´s dying in the next couple of days, enjoy Europe because so few people get to travel and you are really lucky if you get very many chances in your lifetime.
-The best books to read while travelling are funny, light weight (though not necessarily light subjects), and match your location. While I loved _Beloved_, it was a little bit of a bummer for a trip. I think it is very essential to keep your spirits up while travelling. This relates back to the peace of mind lesson. It´s also one reason I don´t drink very much when I travel.
-Learning a new language is all about being confident even when you are unsure of the correct word. Otherwise, you just sit there quietly confused and never learn anything. It is a scary process, but rewarding.
-I am tired of people who tell me that I have a lot of courage to travel alone in Central America. Baltimore is way more dangerous, and it is hard to accept a compliment that you don´t feel is true. I had at least a couple breakdowns on this trip and these always came to mind when people said this to me. This is also the first trip where I enjoyed travelling with other people, too. Travelling with people who you only kind of know but get a really good feeling from is really fun because if it´s someone you know too well you may just end up bickering, but if it´s a new person, you still have a lot to talk about. Maybe this could backfire since it is only based on one experience.
-The best people to talk to in hostels are always the older folks. I say this, possibly implicating myself, but I always have more interesting conversations with older folks who have maintained their interest in travel as a life long interest and not as a thrill while they are young before they ¨settle down¨. They tend to be more humble and open to learning from the experience instead of just checking out bars in other countries (wasn´t there a t.v. show about that?)
-Learning not to worry is important. Bus stops aren´t usually marked in Central America, and early on I got really paranoid about being in the right place at the right time, but I learned to let this go. There are so many things that are out of your control when you travel--power outages, water shortages, rain, long bus rides, (occasionally) getting ripped off, and crazy noises (in Nicaragua there are home made fireworks that go off all the time that sound like gun shots)--I have gotten a lot better in the last 2 months at accepting that some things just have to be endured or embraced.