Just took off from Miami! Officially won’t be back in the
United States for 25 days! So I guess with the blog thing I am supposed to
discuss the trip, my experiences, and my feelings along the way. Personally, I
would rather just talk about my feelings and experiences with another human
being rather than try to form sentences on a computer, but I’m open to trying
new things.
We flew from Indianapolis to Miami, and I am currently on an
overnight plane from Miami to Montevideo, Uruguay. We were served dinner and
breakfast on this plane. Dinner was hot rice and chicken (with a slight plastic
flavor to it), cheese and crackers, carmel brownie, roll with butter, and a
little tiny salad with dressing. They even served it on a little tray! And
breakfast was orange juice, strawberry yogurt, and a warm cinnamon muffin (also
served on tiny tray).
Luckily this flight isn’t even half full, so almost everyone
on the plane has a row to themselves to sprawl out on and sleep. They gave us a
little packet with a pillow and blanket in it. I plan on keeping the blanket.
On my flight from Indianapolis to Miami, I sat next to a guy
who worked at Indiana State University. He was flying down to the Amazon for a
couple of weeks to do some sort of research. I told him about our trip and he
had been to a few of the place we were headed.
This is my first study abroad experience. Now don’t get me
wrong, I have traveled to a lot of places, mostly in the United States. I have
ventured out to Canada and Mexico, but on the majority of those trips I was
merely a tourist. This will be my first time being a “traveler.” This will be
my first time leaving the continent I have called home for the past 23 years of
my life. This will be the first time I have traveled without my family and
instead with a group of mostly strangers, with the exception of one close
friend (Kristi Pearson) and two professors I have been fortunate enough to have
in classes during my undergraduate education. This will be the first time I
have been put in a situation where I can’t “back out” and go back to my comfort
zone.
This trip will challenge me. It will test my patience, my
taste buds, my comfort level, my reliance on material possessions, and my
ability to trust and rely on myself as well as the people I will be spending
every waking moment with.
I have a tendency to rely on other people, which isn’t
always a bad thing. But as I have recognized this in myself over the past few
years, I have noticed more and more that I can’t just go and do things for
myself or by myself. I always like to have a pal with me. Maybe it’s the
extrovert in me, or maybe it’s because I get lonely without having people
around a lot. I wouldn’t have even came on this trip if Kristi hadn’t also been
going, simply because I would have been afraid to try something like this by
myself. I always say, “I’ll do just about anything, as long as I have someone
to do it with me.”
I have even noticed how much I rely on social media as a
form of human interaction. Why else do we post things on social media? Just for
our own amusement? No. Because we want to show other people what we are doing
and win their approval through it. And I know I do it. We all do it some way or
another. Which is why during the course of this trip, I am unplugging from all
forms of connection to the world (expect this blog, obviously, and a few people
back home). No facebook. No instagram. No snapchat. Rather than thinking about
how I can show my experience on this trip to other people via social media, I’m
just going to experience it!
I want to teach myself to experience this world. How to look
at a tree and see it for its beauty rather than its worth. How to smell fresh
air and recognize the difference in it rather than just inhale it. How to
immerse myself in a new culture and appreciate it rather than compare it to
what I am familiar with. Too often do I find myself thinking that what I know
and what I am familiar with is the best solution to life, which is far from the
truth. I know very little about this world and the people that inhabit it. I
want to learn about their lives and discover how I can better myself as a
person as a result.
This trip, for me, is about self-growth.
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