There is something about leaving a place that makes you more thankful for it than when you are actually there. I felt these same thoughts as I left the states 7 weeks ago. To be honest, the first couple weeks were a struggle at times. Challenges included not being able to understand people well enough to have complete conversations as well as a sense that I was wasting days. I took for granted the ease to converse and have deep talks with people. Being in the big city, I developed a routine with work from nine to five every day. Since it is winter here, I would come home and have thirty five minutes of sunshine left in the day. At times my days would seem wasted because it was work for the day, and then I would come home and hang out until it was time to do it over again the next day.
God has a knack for helping me identify my lows and transforming them into something that gives me joy. Through day-by-day practice, I can definitely tell that my Spanish improved. In no way am I now fluent. The difference is the comfort I feel if I need to ask someone a question, or if I am talking to someone, I can put some personality into my responses instead of robot responses that I was taught at the beginning of Spanish. And because of my struggles before, I feel amazing when I talk to a random Chilean and feel accepted in the conversation. By this, I mean neither I nor the other person feel like we are pulling each other along in the discussion.
I have realized that it sucks to not feel involved or not be included in what is going on. It took me being on the outside to realize how nice it is to be on the inside. This is part of the personal growth I was hoping for when traveling. To the people who helped me when they had no need: thank you so much. One conversation can completely change someone’s outlook on the day. For me, this was a coworker who asked about my travel plans but ended up to asking about my family and the deeper things going on in my life.
That is another thing that I have learned since being here. To the people who want to get to know you not to just pass the time but to hear your story and are genuinely interested in you: you are the ones who make life wonderful. For the future, I will try to model my relationships after this. These developed relationships have brought me so much joy. I want to be able to give this feeling to others. This feeling is happiness. This feeling is joy. But most importantly, this feeling is love.
After this week, I begin an 11 day journey through northern Chile and Bolivia by myself. I am nervous, anxious, and excited for this experience to see some places that are so unique in this world. Throughout these days, I feel more personal growth coming.
This time abroad has helped me be able to enjoy time by myself. I have used this time for reflection and thoughts about my future, my past, and where I want to be. People need to learn to love spending time by themselves and love who they are. I know that this journey will give me plenty of this time to grow, I am looking forward to it for this reason as well as others.
In my reflections, I have thought about what I have been able to do in my time on this earth. I have been lucky enough to go to many places, learn so much, and have some great relationships. Going into college, I did not think I would spend extended periods in both Spain and Chile. My reflections have led me to have self-confidence to believe that I can do anything as long as I put in the time and am passionate enough. I think that is true for everyone. It is really tough to actually accept this. At least for me, it has taken this long in my life to have this as a core value. From the moment I first got to work, my supervisor/mentor/boss/friend has instilled this in me. He often jokes about thinking about him once I am so successful or me opening up a branch of the company in the U.S. From this, he gets serious and truly believes that I can have this financial success as well as success in my life. Sometimes all you need is someone believing in you to think it yourself and live life with this philosophy.
So as a rap up my time in Chile, I am thankful for the opportunities, people, places, and so much more that has shaped me into the person I am now. I can’t wait to go back home, but I am thankful for my time here. Vive chile.
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Read more from Luke at https://lukeinchilesite.wordpress.com/
To find more internship and study abroad opportunities
within Walton College, visit http://walton.uark.edu/global/index.php
