My Return Home

After two weeks of being back in the states, my travels through South America already feel like a blur. I have been taking my free time to reflect on the last five months of my life and think about what I have learned from traveling and now appreciate after being gone for so long.
The first thing my mom discovered the day I returned home was lice in my now extremely long hair. I needed a hair cut to help make the process of removing the lice easier, but of course no hair salon would cut my hair. My head had been itchy for the past couple months, but I thought that I mainly had dry skin due to the water and that my skin had been very dry the entire time I had been gone. But no, I had lice. Most likely I had gotten it from one of the hostels I had stayed in. Of course, my mom. dad, and brother all had to help me remove every louse from my hair and wash everything in my suitcase. Even if I had realized I had lice in Argentina, I don’t think anyone would have taken the time to single handedly pick each individual nit from my hair. I am very lucky to have a family who cares enough to do such a task.
I have seen a few friends since I have been back. It’s hard sharing some of the stories I think are funny with them and my because they have no way of fully understand each situation if they haven’t been to Argentina. They say most people experience a kind of reverse culture shock coming back to the U.S. after being in a foreign country for so long. I don’t know if it’s so much culture shock that I have because I don’t feel that I suffered from it too terribly while I was in Argentina. I think my sleep pattern has definitely been significantly affected. I was used to staying out until 7 in the morning then waking up at 11 or 12. Especially being at home where I do not have a whole lot to do during the day, it is very hard trying to wake myself up before 11 or go to bed before 2.
I visited a friend from Cofc this past weekend in Oxford, Ohio where Miami University is located. We went to a bar to see a band and of course got carded and X’s on our hands for being under 21. I got so used to being able to go into any bar or club without an id or being able to order a glass of wine at dinner if I wanted it, it’s going to be aggravating that I can’t even walk into a bar under 21 once I am back in Charleston. We also went to a Mexican restaurant, I was able to actually speak Spanish to the waiter now. I was pretty excited.
In general, it has been weird coming back and not ordering in Spanish in restaurants anymore or just not hearing the language at all. I find myself saying certain words in Spanish all the time like bueno, gracias, lindo, and claro. (Probably some of the most used words by the Americans in Argentina). I have been attempting to teach my family a little bit since I have been home. They’re learning…

What I gained from Argentina…
Patience! Accepting the fact that going to the post office will be at least 1 and a half hours. For example, getting a number, waiting for them to call my name, showing my passport, and then receiving a number like 565,321. Then going to another room and having to listen to that number over a loud speaker with hundreds of other people talking. In Spanish this number is quinientos sesenta y cinco mil tres cientos veinte y uno. This number is read extremely fast and some times read in this way or read by individual digits and very difficult to understand over the only sometimes functional loud speaker. After thinking I might have heard my number, I go to another room where I tell them I heard my number and the 15 people sorting through packages take another 20 minutes to search for my package. Then having to take the enormous package on the subway crammed in with hundreds of other people on an extremely hot day.
Developing patience forced me to have to relax more than usual. The semester before I left for Argentina, I was always worried about school, SIFE, or the thousand other things I had on my mind. Being immersed in a more relaxed lifestyle where people aren’t always in a hurry to have something done or be busy all the time helped me calm down and truly live in the moment. I home hoping to stay this way when I return to Charleston in a few weeks.
Overall, I feel like my Spanish improved immensely. I notice myself randomly thinking of words in Spanish and trying to think in Spanish every now in then. I think I became much wiser with traveling and learning how to really plan trips on my own and that I will probably never take a 40 hour bus ride ever again!.
After having several hours of free time, I had lots of time to think about my life and what I want to accomplish in the future. I feel like now I really know who I am and how to not let other people get in the way of something I want to do. I really enjoyed some of the things I did on my own in Buenos Aires. Whenever I did not feel like waiting for someone to go do something, I would just go on my own and find somewhere in the city to explore. It gave me a sense of independence that I could find my way around that huge city without getting lost or even feel afraid.

Things I forgot to mention that I think were funny about Argentina…

People smoking in the University of Belgrano underneath the no smoking sign
Justo a Tiempo, the ridiculous game show I watched with Virginia and Vicente. One of the games in the show consisted of the contestants sitting in movie theater seats that moved violently while they had to keep popcorn bowls on their head. Whoever kept the most amount of popcorn in their bowl and the end won. Also, Homer Simpson would randomly appear and dance throughout the show.
The transvestites on TV. in the clubs and also in the park at night. There is a huge park in Palermo where all the transvestite prostitutes go at night to get picked up by clients. Charlie took Lizzy and I there after our tour of the city and there was literally a huge line of cars checking them out. We actually were told that a lot of straight men go there to pick them up…
The one man band on the subway one day. He had an amp, microphone, and electric guitar on the subway!! It was like a live concert. A guy in a business suit even got up and took over and played a song and sang.
Buenos Aires is probably one of the few places that you will get pooped on by a pigeon and step in dog poop in the same day.
On my last day in Buenos Aires I attempted to try on jeans. I assumed a 27 would fit since the jeans I was wearing were a 26. They were way too small and the girl working at the store offered to bring me another size and asked me the size I had tried on. I told her a 27 and she laughed at me and said that was the biggest size they had! (A 27 is a size 4 U.S.) How are normal people supposed to find clothes in that city?
A way of hitting on someone is asking them if they’re pregnant.
There are many more that will have to be composed into a novel later in my life.


The future…
I recently was elected president of SIFE for the upcoming year. I am hoping to stay in contact with a similar organization my friends are members of in Argentina and do a project with Argentine students.
The summer Olympics are in Brazil in 2016. I hope to have paid of some debt and have some extra cash to return to South America by then. Brazil is one of the many places I wasn’t able to go to. Jared, Lizzy, Rachael, and I hope to travel there together in 2016
I am hoping to find an internship for this coming summer in a Spanish speaking country, ideally Costa Rica or Spain.
I am really looking forward to spending the next year and a half in Charleston and cannot wait to see my friends when I return in a couple of weeks.
One day I would like to write a book about my travels, but I think I need to focus on graduating from college first.

The present…
Today is my mom’s 50th birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! I love you and am so happy to be home with you again. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I thank all of you who have been following my blog and hope you have enjoyed it. : )