So what I really got out of Mendoza? The fact that I have amazing friends who I miss more than I ever thought I would. It's different being separated for the summer, because everyone is apart, but people started returning for Oweek last week and everyone is moving back on Saturday, and I would be lying if I said part of me didn't want to be there with them.
Seeing Jules when she threw open the door, screamed, and bear hugged me was one of the best things that has happened to me since I got here. Mostly just because I forgot how nice it is to have someone you love and trust hold you. I normally take it for granted because I am always surrounded my friends or family. It's ironic that I had to go to a country where physical contact is part of the culture to realize how important it is. I've been here for 3.5 weeks now, and I can honestly feel the lack of personal touch. Sure I kiss everyone when we meet, but it isn't the same. Physical contact is so common it is almost impersonalized. Sure we do it less in the U.S, but every touch means more.
I guess really it is just realizing just how independent and alone I am. I feel like I have been independent for a long time, but this is the first time I have ever felt alone. It's only me here. My nearest friends are 20 plus hours away and my family and friends are thousands of miles from here. That's what makes adjusting hard. I think I'm meet great people, my host family is amazing, and I wouldn't change the experience or want to waste the opportunity, but it still is a challenge for me everyday. Everyday it gets a little bit easier, but I appreciate my life in the U.S. so much more.
Which is the other thing I realized: for all the attempts to fight it and denial, I think I'm actually starting to grow up. Seeing two of my closest friends after 3.5 months apart in a new environment showed me how we've began to mature and change. We have always been really different, but we aren't college freshman thinking about the party on Friday or the big test in our Social Psych class. I hope that as we separate and experience new things with new people we are always going to be able to remain close and share the friendship we have now. It hasn't always been easy or perfect, and there are times you want to strangle your friends as much as you want to hug them, but at the end of the day I want them in my life.
Our whole trip wasn't this meijuleslinda love fest, although if you ask the aussie and irish they'll say it was, so my next post will try to get back on track with the insightful and interesting details I am slowly learning about Sudamerica.
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