Spain: Morning Report

It's not writer's block. All the ideas are here. It's not a lack of interest. I'd throw everything away if that were the case. It's not that things are changing. My intent it still to have an active blog.

Perhaps it is the lack of discipline. To make the time, sit down, and write about the millions of ideas and things that go through my head every single minute of the day. Have you ever tried pouring water into a bottle from a pitcher? Typically you need a funnel to make your life easier. But even then you can't go too fast without making a mess.

My apologies for the "No-Post November." Deep down inside I like to blame it for my lack of time, while very true I think it's always possible to make room for the little things.

To touch on a variety of topics, here is the morning report. I'll give you the long, and the short.

I went to college loving to write. Loving to blog. Loving to travel, and take pictures. I went to college as a Mass Communications major.

That didn't last long.

The major, that is.

Currently I'm listed as an International Business major at Loyola University in New Orleans. Thank you to my teacher who took a point off when I wrote "University of Loyola" on my report. I won't ever mess that up again.

However, things may change. There's no need to major in Spanish when Spanish is your first language, and there's no need to major in International Business when so many things in your life already make you international. So marketing, management, or something else may be my new trend later on. But for now I'm sticking close to home with IB.

And this is where AFS come into play.

The more time that passes, the more I am confused why parents don't let their kid go on exchange. Sure every kid is different, but in most cases comes down to one thing. The parents are selfish.

There you go. I've called you out, parents. You are simply too selfish for not letting your kid leave you.

And it's as simple as that.

The fact that I have gone on exchange before going to college is what gives me a leg up, and is what is going to get me in the door before many others. In the competitive world we live in today, it is crucial, now more than ever, to be playing in the same game with everyone else. Take a soccer match as an example. Have you ever seen a player not wear cleats? Certainly not. That would put them at a disadvantage. So let's say everyone is "made equal" so to speak. They all have the same equipment. Play on the same turf, and play with the same soccer ball. Everyone was required to try out for the team (think: apply for college), get accepted, and practice with the rest (think: study).

Now think, exchange.

Initially, it's all exciting. You figure things out. Experience new things. Go through ups and downs. Start out weak, and grow. In soccer, you develop skills. Build relationships with team members, etc.

The more games you play, the better you play your next one.

So, your first abroad experience is like playing your first soccer game. But here is where things get tricky. So many college students play their first game in college. Game One.

How many college students have already played the game?

Oh, you have! Good. Although I have not met anyone so far from my university that was a high school exchange student, here's where so many people go wrong.

News to you, you are not at the top of the totem pole.

Look at all of the international students who are kicking our rear ends.

In other words, all of the international students at my school have most of the core competencies I thought I had, too. Many went to a bilingual or English speaking school, and have two languages down flat. They go to school here in the US, and go home to their home countries over break.

You can't win in a tie.

Makes me feel bad for those who didn't even make it to the tie, though. I'd hate to have all of that catch-up to do, just to enter the competitive field. Granted, you may be going for a major that is completely unrelated, so it's not like this applies to everyone.

The bottom line? Whatever you do, make sure you are equipped with everything you need to put you at the competitive level. Once you're at that level, it's your job to get the edge, and win the game.

Just remember, not all games can be won,
and no 'one' can win all games.

Back to my life story.

On campus, I'm involved in quite a lot. International Buddies, International Student Association, Sorority, Ambassadors, and will be working as an English tutor next semester. I'm taking 18 hours including three business classes, history (common curriculum), Spanish, and Italian. Since I was able to skip the first level, Italian is just my "fun" class, something for my personal interest.

Fall 2013 I will be on exchange again! Yay! Just now to figure out where.....

*repeats blog from beginning*

I'm quite excited, for a variety of reasons. One, as mentioned before, I've already played one game. Even though changing continents can sometimes be the equivalent to changing from soccer to baseball, I think I have a certain guaranteed % of having more success. There's so much more to learn, and it's nice already have been through the routine once before. Depending on where I go, I'll probably stay with a host family. In order to broaden my international range, I'm looking at Latin America, and thinking about trying to pick up Portuguese. ...We'll see.

The big project over holiday break is looking for an internship. I am coming to the conclusion that this is more difficult than choosing and applying to a university. Options. Choices. Essays. Acceptance.

I'm convinced that my life will forever be AFS. There's not much I can do about it. At first I tried to deny it, although I've come to accept it now. In a typical day I will talk/email to people from 4 different time zones, and type/chat in 2 different languages. The number of languages spoken between those 4 different people is around 5. When I go to the post office, I'm mailing more international than national cards. My iTunes has quite the collection of foreign jams, and all of this is my normal routine. Living in Atlanta is a bit strange, since I only have one friend here (whom I met through AFS). I'll remind readers that this is because we moved here right before I went to university.

Photo Credit: Olivia Seal

Speaking of the end of the world, I can assure you all that we are pretty safe. And if we're not, I'll make sure to post the latest news from my friends in New Zealand. They are almost one full day ahead of us, remember.

The terrible disaster in CT was ten minutes away from my friend's high school. Also another AFSer. Things like this make me laugh when people say that going on exchange "is too dangerous." Have we taken a look at the country we live in today? Someone needs to connect the dots why this doesn't happen in other countries. Not saying that there aren't worse, but there are better.

I'd like to throw out a congratulations to all of the "Viaggio Italiano" scholarship winners. Always feels nice to give back to AFS, this time around as a judge. After reading a handful of essays, I recognized many of the winners. I am not to give out any information on details, but am at liberty to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading the essays in response to a question about how you would handle "the worst day" during exchange. A few of you nailed it on the head. I did not, did not, did not read every one's essays. Just some.

My mind is still stuck in fall, or late summer for that matter. New Orleans is a tropical rain forest. It's weird, because the more places I go to in the US, the more I realize how different one place is from another. I always kind of saw our country as being more or less the same overall, and even though it is in many respects, there are a lot more inner-cultural differences than I thought.

Sorority? Yeaaaah I'm in one of those. It surprises many people when they hear that. My biggest struggle with it is how people start to think that sorority is a characteristic of them. Joining a group, to me, doesn't make you a better person. Other people can impact your life, but not a color or a symbol. College is a lot more like high school than I thought it would be. "High school on wheels" I like to call it. It's easier to get away on wheels. We don't have houses, though, I still live in a dorm. Although now in 2012 the term "dorm" is a derogatory term, and we as ambassadors must use "residential halls" instead. Same thing with the word "rush" in sorority. We have to call it "recruitment" instead. Anyhow, one day a few weeks ago a fellow friend was talking about how she wants to go on exchange. But she doesn't know when, because HEAVEN FORBID WE MISS RECRUITMENT NEXT YEAR. A bunch of "nods" and "yeahs" of others in the car followed. I wanted to run out of the car and shatter something.

SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE, PEOPLE. SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE.3 days of recruiting freshman members into a group that you will only be in for three more semesters?What in society has corrupted us into thinking that these current day things, such as sorority, prom, or high school sports are so life changing? College in many ways has been good, because it's taught me to just keep my mouth sealed and not even try to put the energy into things like this. Although I just wrote about it, so I guess that makes me a bit of a hypocrite.

Everyone should get Google+, and even though I myself have not really figured the whole thing out, it appears to me that it can function the same as Skype, but with up to 9 people. It's also combined the format of Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest all together. Even though I don't have the last two, some friends of mine claim they are going to start a website posting different quotes and catchphrases I say throughout the day. Hmm...

I have watched a few movies via YouTube. Lion King was one of them a few weeks ago. All in Spanish, of course. It is quite entertaining to see how these things are translated and I hope everyone gets the opportunity to be able to experience this hilarious phenomenon. The best is when they translate songs, like in The Sound of Music or The Last Song. It's interesting.

So I'll leave it at that, a bunch of rambling, but next will be, finally, about the trip to Graz. Backtracking to my excursion this past summer.

Enjoy the holidays- we were finally able to get rid of our snow blower and shovels this year. Our university actually had a professional snow company come out and make a pile of fake "sneaux" for the community to play in... It was about 65 degrees out that night.

"Not sure which is worse, the mind numbingly ignorant people, or the people who think they know everything about world."

-Catherine James