It’s been a month since my last blog entry, and so much has happened. For lack of my own patience and yours, I won’t drone on for pages. But I’m not a quitter, so as I finish up my year abroad I’d like to get another post or two up here.
I was in Costa Rica until June 27th, and I have to say getting to be part of that trip was really a privilege. Not only was I able to visit a couple of countries I’d never been to (we went up to Nicaragua for a couple of days at the end), but I got to enjoy spending time with my professor, my fellow teaching assistants, and the Lee students. On our weekend trips, we participated in such adventures as hiking around an active volcano, bathing in hot springs, and zip-lining 600 feet above the ground.
After my return from Costa Rica, only about 3 weeks remained of my year in Colombia. So far, it has been really strange being back after several weeks in the gringo bubble of the Lee trip. To add to the strangeness, I’m not working, I’m living in a different apartment, and splitting my time between many people and activities. On June 30th, a different group of Lee students arrived to Barranquilla to spend the month of July on a cross-cultural trip here in Colombia. I’ve kept busy orienting the students and helping here and there with trip details. I tagged along with them to Cartagena for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed my last time in the Caribbean Sea for awhile. Now, I have a few more days in Barranquilla before I leave for a conference in Cali, where I’ll be until the day before I leave for the States.
In these whirlwind days, I feel pulled in a thousand directions. I am so excited to be back in the U.S. after a year away, but the thought of leaving Colombia brings tears to my eyes. Oh, to be able to be in two places at once.
