Ciao, mi corazon

And now it’s actually coming to an end. Today we’re leaving Montevideo and heading back to the United States. Where has the four months gone? I am not ready to leave—ready to go back and see everyone for a couple of weeks, but not ready to be gone from this place that I’ve come to call home. It is so beautiful here and I don’t want to leave behind the people that I now love. But then of course there are some things that I can’t wait to get back to… it’s been such a mixed bag of emotions these past few days. No matter what, I know it’s going to be strange readjusting to life back in the U.S. when I’ve come to love Uruguayan life so much.

Things I’m excited about coming home to:

1. The food. Even though I’ve just finally adjusted to the bland Uruguayan palate of greasy, way too cheesy pizza, flat hamburgers, pastas with little flavor, and ham and cheese on everything, I can’t wait to get home. I literally can’t remember what a turkey sandwich tastes like anymore. I can’t wait to have a variety of restaurants and different types of food again, rather than just four or five similar choices at every restaurant. Here at the casa we’ve all been talking about what we want as our first meal when we get home. Me? I want Papa John’s veggie pizza with a turkey sandwich from Subway and a Vanilla Sprite from Sonic. It’ll be a full first few days!

2. Family and friends. This one almost goes without saying, but pretty much the only downside of studying abroad has been missing my family and friends and only being able to talk through Skype on the casa’s shaky internet connection. I can’t wait to get back to big, American hugs when you see someone you know, rather than the more reserved Uruguayan kiss on the cheek—which has been cool for sure, but it can never replace hugs.

3. My car. Taking taxis and buses and walking everywhere has been a really cool experience, and it’s been great exercise. I haven’t even really missed my car at all while I’ve been here, actually. I’ve loved figuring out other kinds of transportation, like taking a bus or flying for road trips, but there’s still nothing like the freedom of driving your own car with the windows down while listening to music.

Things I’ll Miss:

1. The food. I know...I included it in things I won’t miss…but in a way, maybe I WILL miss it here. I’ll miss going to the markets on Sunday and buying bags full of fresh vegetables for super cheap, and I’ll DEFINITELY miss Raquel and Mariela’s cooking! We’ve been so spoiled to have such amazing chefs (and wonderful, sweet women) cook for us every day. I think I’ll probably crave their chivitos until the day I die. I’ve been trying to compile a recipe book from them so that we can cook “Raquel food” back in the States and have those memories from here.

2. My friends. There’s Diego, Emanuel, Natalia, Martín, Matías, Andrea, Mikaela, and little Estefania—the Uruguayan friends that I’ve made here, who have taught me everything from Spanish words to what it means to enjoy life. I’ll miss going out to sit by the statue of General Artigas and passing around a mate as we all sit and talk and laugh. The past few nights have been especially bitter sweet as we all started to realize that our amazing friendships are almost over. And then of course there are the wonderful friends that I’ve been blessed to live with. Living in a big community has been one of the coolest experiences of my life, and one of the best parts of studying abroad. I’m not sure how the 4 guys managed to put up with us 16 girls the whole time, but it has been so much fun! I’m going to miss always having someone around to talk to or hang out with, and I might even miss the constantly noisy house, even at 3 AM when I’m trying to sleep!

3. The piropos. For some of the girls here, this may be something they’re looking forward to leaving, but I’ve really gotten a lot of laughs out of it while we’ve been here. The piropos are guys who stand on the streets and have made it an art form to whistle or yell compliments at girls who walk by. They’ll say funny things in English sometimes if they overhear you not speaking Spanish…”You’re beautiful!” or “I like blondes!” They never say a word when I’m out walking with Lawson or any other guy, but if I’m by myself or with a group of girls, we get funny compliments all the time. Sometimes it makes you feel good when you’re just in sweatpants with no makeup on and you know you don’t look pretty but you still get whistled at anyways. I think I’ll miss the piropos.

4. Traveling. Here we’ve been so blessed to be able to travel so many places…I hope that this won’t stop when I get back to the States. I hope I’ll still take weekends to go on roadtrips with friends or go camping or see cool things within the U.S. There’s a lot in this world to see and I hope I don’t forget that once I get back home.

We're about to have chapel as a group for the last time and then we're leaving for the airport. This time tomorrow, I'll be back in the States. I think it'll almost be more culture shock getting home than it was arriving here in Uruguay...I've adjusted to it and come to love it so much that the thought of leaving is really hard. But I can't wait to see you all again, and thanks for reading my blog all semester! I love you all very much!

See you soon!