Twenty Two Hours Later

What people don’t tell you about travelling is that leaving never gets easier. Saying goodbye, whether you are departing from your home country or your host country, is incredibly difficult. For me, this round of goodbyes was heartbreaking and soul-crushing. I’m sure all of the other goodbyes I have said have hurt just as bad, if not worse, but these goodbyes are fresh like open wounds. I have come to terms with the goodbyes I said leaving Denmark but I have yet to accept that I won’t see some of the people I love for a year. I have cried more tears than a grown woman should have (but then again, am I really grown?). I am trying to focus on the fact that I have another amazing adventure ahead of me and soon I will be on an enormous upswing.

Moving onwards and upwards, my first flight was a quick shot to JFK with a layover in the most desolate airport I have ever been in. My seatmates on the flight here were pretty interesting; in the middle seat, there was a young, Israeli father with his infant daughter traveling to Buenos Aires to sell meat. To his right, the lady in the window seat was a Minneapolis native, traveling to New York to spend a week with her Brazilian mistress, whom she has only met once.  Needless to say, the conversation went to some interesting and colorful places.

I am now five and a half hours through my eleven hour flight to Buenos Aires and I am somewhere high above Venezuela. So far on this flight I have my first ever experience with culture shock (I felt at home right away in Denmark and didn’t experience difficulties adjusting). Much to my surprise, I froze, like didn’t know what to do, mind halted, utter confusion, indecipherable words leaking from my lips, kind of froze. I was putting my backpack into the overhead compartment and didn’t know what to do with everything in my hands so I put it on the floor. Next thing I know, three different people are picking my stuff up and holding it out to me. I gather my things, say thank you, and turn back around to tell the guy in the aisle seat I need to get in and I completely stumbled through words I do know how to say in Spanish and climb in. I sit in my seat in utter disbelief of my reaction to the entire situation. I am still very confused but I wish I had experienced culture shock on my previous adventure so it looks like I am in for a treat. Also on my flight, I made a friend. I do not know her name but she is an Argentine teenager with a septum ring who offered to show me around Buenos Aires. The warmth I have already received from this culture is incredible; I have never experienced anything like it.

Other interesting plane things: an enormous jolt of excitement erupted inside me when the first lights of South America appeared out of the darkness. I saw the lights of Caracas, Venezuela and screamed a little on the inside. The differences in infrastructure between North and South America are so apparent in the way the lights appears. In the US, there are distinct lines and streets; a person could map out major roads just from the light from taillights on cars. In Venezuela, there were random blobs of light that would disappear into vast expanses of darkness. Also, as I was flying over the Amazon, there was absolutely no light pollution. The stars were amazing. I could see the stardust and clouds in the various galaxies.

There is this psychological concept (don’t ask the name because I don’t remember) that says something like if you say you are going to do something publically, you are more likely to do those things; something about accountability, something about peer pressure, I am not entirely sure. Anyways, I have created a list of things I want to accomplish in Argentina and I am going to use psychology to help me do so. This list reads as follows:

•        Achieve a high proficiency in Spanish.
•        Become more in touch with my emotions and be able to express them more freely.
•        Teach myself self-discipline.
•        Learn how to run outside.
•        Focus this entire journey on my growth and personal development.
•        Write as much as I can, whether that be in journals, blogposts, or short passages in my phone.
•        Limit how much I party (not in the sense that I am never going to do it, but I have already decided that I want my year to be more of a journey into myself and the small corners of Argentine culture rather than a year of crazy partying *cough* Denmark *cough*).

I left out the obvious ones like not failing school and making lifelong relationships but I am assuming that my devoted blog readers (my mom) can fill in the holes. Throughout my year, this list is sure to grow and every so often I plan to reflect on how I am doing con mis metas (with my goals).

The next few days are going to be a whirlwind tour of Buenos Aires; it is technically an orientation to Argentine culture and study abroad in general but the itinerary they gave us doesn’t have much orientating. We see all the major parts of the city and have about four hours of actual orientation. We are in Buenos Aires until Wednesday afternoon then board a plane to Mendoza! After that, I have no idea but I can’t wait to be back in a world/period of my life where I have no clue what I am doing or what is going on and being incredibly happy to be there.

Side note: if you have Instagram, I created an account where I will/should post at least one picture every day. The username is AdventureAmeliaTjaden. Yes, I am aware how cliché that is but it’s Instagram, okay?

I am going to refrain from communication with home for a while so if you don’t hear from me, don’t worry, I am doing just fine.

Love you, mean it, talk to you later!

Hasta luego Minneapolis.

Sun disappearing behind the clouds.