Things

Honestly I love Argentina. So much. There arn't enough words to describe how grateful I am do be here right now. I really needed to get out of Boulder. Not to say that I dont love my home and that I dont miss my family and friends, but to be honest, I haven't been this happy in a while. Being an exchange student is so easy and so difficult at the same time. For one, school is a breeze and making friends wasn't that hard either, and neither was intergrating into a new family. Obviously those subjects have their difficulites at times but the hardest things aren't the most obvious. Spanish for one is confusing. I did speak conversational Spanish before I got here but I spoke a lot worse than I thought I did. But in the past two months my spanish has gotten so much better. Its frustrating though, not being able to express yourself in the way you want to, and not being able to partcipate in conversations or arguements because you know you wont be able to prove your point in a way that people will understand. And people thinking that your not doing anything with your time because you dont do the same school work as they do. I get bored of not studing, everyone does, so I study on my own time things that interest me, like history, politics, and world affairs. Coming here and getting questions about the economic crisis and the election and realizing how little I knew about the conditions in my own country, made me feel very ignorant, a feeling I dont like at all, and made me want to research things on my own. Reading the news, a simple thing, can make you feel so smart. Who knew?
The mentality here is different too. And in my opinion, a lot better. I dont consider myself that materalistic of a person, my happiness doesn't depend on things. I like certain luxeries, like everyone, but I dont care what kind of car someone has vs. someone else. And for my friends here, thats not how americans "are". There are a lot of sterotypes that you have to break, a lot of them are true, and it confuses people sometimes how I am. Why I think so freely, because thats not what people have heard about the United States. I am the way I am because of the way my family has raised me, to not base happiness on items, and Im so thankful for that. People in Boulder are really in a bubble and for the average teenager, dont care whats going on in the rest of the world, or dont have enough patience to go do some research. Thats one lesson I've learned here, and not one that I can put into words so well. That you really dont need things to be happy. Not one bit.

And my friends- I feel like I have friends now. And I never thought it would feel so good, or so rewarding. And to me its amaizng. How they welcomed me, from the common sterotype of the US, which isn't so good. They took a risk with me and Im so thankful. Its feels likebeing an exchange student is finally kicking in and I'm learning so much about myself. Patience too. With myself. Staying calm in situations and not getting frustrated and hitting a wall when I get angry. And the patience people have with me is unbeilviable. Being an exange student isn't all fun and games. It gets hard. Another thing that is extrmely difficult, is showing people you. Without words you feel like your drowning sometimes.