Going For The Gap!

Hi Everyone!

Just an update: I am loving University of Denver!! It is amazing out here and I feel like it is the perfect school coming from my Gap Year. There is so much to do here between the city and the mountains, making it very difficult to get bored! I am hoping to study global health-- my year inspired me to do so. I want to be able to continue my travels after college but want to be able to bring something to the countries I visit. I believe healthcare is the perfect thing. During my travels I witnessed so many sick or injured kids and what is more beneficial than being able to assist them? Honestly if it wasn't for my Gap Year I wouldn't have a clue of what I want to study. Know I am motivated and passionate about this subject making it very easy to study and stay focused.

Since I am so passionate about Gap Years, I have created a website called Going For The Gap (goingforthegap.com) which promotes and advises Gap Year's. Tell everyone about it!!!

Also check out all my photos at: www.mygapyear.shutterfly.com

THANKS!

Over and Out.

I just want to say THANKS to everyone who followed my blog. It was an amazing year and I am sad to say it's over. I am actually heading to College (yes, finally) on September 5th. Now, I don't know if I will have anything to blog remotely as entertaining and crazy as this past year soooo I guess this is goodbye until I set out in my next adventure abroad!

Over and out!

Me Voy

Sitting on the plane going to Buenos Aires. It's over. I can't believe how time flies. I am going to miss Argentina and my Romero family MUCHISIMO!! Walking away from them down the ramp was so hard... tears fell from my eyes as my hands took turns throwing to my family afar. I am wearing a gorgeous scarf Mama made for me. I will always remember her kindness and gratuity.

I see the faces and hear the cries of the people I left behind, and feel the lump in my throat as I try to stay strong (not wanting everyone on the plane think I'm crazy....). In these cases however I am as vulnerable as can be. My heart takes over my emotions and my pride is forced to step back. I am so happy to have experienced what I did. The dining hall and all the kids...Luci, Ana, Graciela, y Erica as well as the Hermanas, Luci + fam, boys from futbol, and of course mi familia and mi amor Argentina!

BESOS X SIEMPRE.

Last Day Rio

Well its my last day in Rio believe it or not. It is a gorgeous day with the sun shining down. Warm enough finally for just shorts and a t-shirt! I am sitting in a park watching local kids enjoy the day with a game of pick up futbol. What I really want to do right now is join haha! I already miss all the kids from the Dining Hall whom I just said goodbye to. I just want to go back and play another round with them! It really beats everything in life. Sharing laughs over a simple game of futbol. It has just been two hours since I have seen them this morning, or left them, and I miss them soo much! Knowing that I may never see them again kills me. I am tempted to go back and see if they want to play again! I know another goodbye will be unbearable-- as you can see the first one didn't go so well with me. This Gap Year has been too good to me and I'm gunna miss every part of it. I already do!!! Everyone I've met has a place in my heart and memories that I will cherish forever... from Bolivia and Peru to Australia and New Zealand now back here to this little town in Argentina. Thanks for everything. Argentina rocks and I can't wait to return (SOON HOPEFULLY!!!).

Oh The Place's You'll Go!

On this day last year I was putting on my long white dress taking pictures with my friends and heading off to my high school graduation. The theme? Dr Suess' Oh The Places You'll go...
 
It was funny coincidence that it was my graduation theme since it was also my favorite book growing up. I never realized just how appropriate the theme would be this time last year.  Sitting 
 
in that big stadium and receiving my diploma I don't think I could’ve ever guessed where I am now. Instead of gussying up for a big night, I am in a small town in Argentina eating Asasado, drinking Mate, and watching the sun set over the Andes 
 
mountains. So when I think back to that Graduation day I smile because Dr Suess couldn't have been more right, and the graduation theme any less apropriate... Oh the places I'll go...

Viva Argentina!!

My host family is absolutely great as you all already know. I keep boasting about them and really can’t stop. I am so sad to be leaving them so soon! Only after two days I felt close to them and now with only a week or so left I feel like I would be saying goodbye to my real family. Coming home everyday after work, talking about our days, eating a lot of food, making popcorn and sitting down to watch a movie, all of these things make Argentina feel like my true home. After traveling for a few days, it felt great to sit down and converse with my family and sleep in my own bed! It was also nice to come home to my other family: thehhhhhhhhkids. It was sooo nice coming back and being with them again. There huge smiles, simple happiness and warm souls just make me as happy as anyone can be. The girls at the orphanage are literally like my sisters and it will be so sad to say goodbye. This past Friday they had an event at their school for the 200th Anniversary of the revolution and I went like some crazy sibling snapping photos at every moment. Spending 4 days apart was more than enough! We gave each other the biggest hugs after being apart and it was wonderful! Wednesday (5/26) I came back from Buenos Aires and worked at the Dining Hall right after. I played soccer with the kids all night, ended up buying them some Coca-cola and cookies because they beat me in soccer (fyi it was a pretty close game). Just being here is amazing and each and every child has an impact on me. Watching all the crazy boys on the soccer field running around, pushing and shoving trying to get to the same soccer ball is not only hilarious but gives me the biggest smile. There are so many different moments with each kid that make me smile when I think back on them. I honestly could go on writing about all of this forever so I guess I am just going to leave it as I love Argentina. I love everything about it and it has given me SO much happiness. I just hope I am spreading that out just as equally to those that I encounter here.

The other Saturday the kids at soccer had a match against another team in Cordoba. It was a ton of fun!! They were so cute with their jerseys and goal cheering. : )

Home Again

Home again. It is funny to me how comfortable I have gotten with this family in such a short period of time. After traveling for the past 4 days or so during the long weekend, it was nice coming back home to Rio Ceballos. I knew I would be greeted with hugs and besos followed by a good amount of food (I was right!). My travels were absolutely amazing and added a total different element to my trip here in Argentina. Traveling and being a total hippie is a whole different experience in itself. Planning your schedule, going out by yourself, discovering new people and places, it is a journey any nineteen year old could dream of. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, forced me to try new things and most of all, put my spanish to the test! I feel incredibly fortunate to have experienced everything I have within the past 3 weeks, let alone the past year. The adventures, the people and places I have encountered have been branded into my heart and soul forever. I will carry the lessons that they taught me and be sure to hold onto them forever for losing it all would just be a sin. I wish I had the time and dinero to revisit all my host families and tell them how I still think about them all the time. To the one host family in the middle of no where Bolivia, with no phone or source of communication, that even though my stay was brief, their impact on me will never fade. I still see the faces and hear the voices of all the kids running in the street screaming, “A la Cancha!!” or the faces with tears rolling down their cheeks as my companions and I say goodbye for possibly forever. All these little moments from this one big year is truly what makes a Gap Year. But really, it shouldn’t be called that because there are no gaps left in my body or soul. It is complete, hearty and ready to conquer anything that comes my way. It was a very FULL year.