Obstacles Overcome; Lessons Learned; Now What?: Buenos Aires (LB)

Just because this is my last blog post does not mean that the party is coming to an end. The prompt for this post is exactly the kind of questions I'm prepping myself for when I return to the states: "What’s the most difficult and challenging thing you’ve done while Away? What’s the greatest obstacle you’ve overcome? What’s the most complex problem you’ve solved? What’s your greatest achievement? What skills have been most important to your Away successes?" And I want to be able to say that my journey has been something out of a Julia Robert's movie;  where the average everyday American girl wants a change in her life, so she packs up her things and decide to travel all around south of the Equator and finds herself through silly coincidences and cliche life lessons. But I don't think it has been anything out of a movie. 
I remember being so panicky for the first week. This was the first time in my life that I was truly and completely independent. Of course I figured it would be a great big "fiesta" and I mean it has been. But also it has made me do a lot of thinking about growing up. I had the very naive idea that I was going to return from this trip a 100% changed woman, but I still feel like I am the same Lynsey that I was four months ago, however just with a  better Spanish accent. 

Bonding with a stray dog on a corner in San Pedro 

But thinking back to how I was the first month of the trip, I was terrified and super stressed about things going wrong in my plans. For travelling, I would try to be as accurate and as precise as I could and would have fears of ending up in the wrong place, whether it be missing my flight, getting lost in a taxi, or taking the wrong bus to the other side of the city. In relation, looking at my other blog posts it reminds me of how I spent 85% of my first couple weeks here, lost and glued to our pocket map of Buenos Aires. I was panicky at first, but later realized that everything ended okay, and that it was not as grave as I believed for it to be. Just recently, I got into a taxi in sights of getting home on time, but somehow the taxi driver didn't understand what I said and took me to the other side of town. My fears had been confirmed, to the old Lynsey it would have been the end of the world. But, I laughed. It was going to be all right. Nothing was worth stressing out about, I would eventually make it to class and everything would work out. It would be all right. In comparison, I feel that as of now, I feel I have gained the confidence to be able to accept whatever life throws at me, and just make it apart of the plan.

The grave of Eva Peron 

Of course, my Spanish has improved itself too! During conversations I am seeing less confused faces and hearing less of, "Que?" or "Huh?" I always had confidence in speaking, (those who know me know I love to talk) but I would always feel like people only grabbed 60% of what I was trying to say. I recently talked to the sister of a friend yesterday who was born and raised in Argentina, but moved to Canada and has been there for six years now. She was going through the same thing I was, but reversed. She had been overwhelmed with learning and speaking English (not many people around her speak Spanish) that she was slowly forgetting Spanish. It was a conflict of the brain. I was (and now) am having trouble comprehending things sometimes. I was watching a movie in English (with Spanish subtitles) and I had a mini heart attack in which I could not understand anything that the actors were saying. Also, I am beginning to dream in Spanish. My friend's sister described it as a sort of "limbo" in not belonging in either of the languages. I don't know I feel about it, but I'm nervous about losing my Spanish since I won't be using it as much in Meadville. 
Not many people realize that learning a new language changes your way of thinking. One word in Spanish may not have an exact translation in English. Also, different words are used for different situations. It makes one realize how delicate words are and the choices we make to get across our feelings. Spanish is full of verb tenses, it's difficult to say something at the correct tense that you want to say it. I feel that I have burned conjugating verbs into my brain, but now it's just working on how to work them in smoothly into a conversation. Learning Spanish makes me have more respect for those who are learning English, I wish you all the best.    

"Find people that you can be yourself around."
#blessed

I have been trying to evade the fact that I am returning home in a month half. It feels surreal, that this semester hasn't happened-- like a dream.  Next year I plan to graduate from Allegheny and be tossed right back into this wide open world.  It makes me sad to not know the next time that I will be down here. However, I have made some amazing friends, learned many tactical skills, and have memories for a lifetime that I will take back with me to the states. But as I stated in the beginning, I still have a month and a half left, and I plan to live it up as much as  I can! Viva Argentina!  

The Bonbonera (Stadium of Boca Juniors)