I can make it anywhere; yeah, they love me everywhere"
-Jay-Z, Empire State of Mind
Lots to talk about, but I can't remember much of it when I'm on the spot like this. I'll probably end up posting this, and then adding a couple of short follow-up posts with things I remember over the next day or so.
To start off: I keep forgetting to mention this, but a few weeks ago I was in the park and I saw a guy on a skateboard. I saw a guy on a skateboard, holding onto ropes which were attached to the collars of his large dogs, who were running and pulling the guy. All parties involved appeared to be having the time of their respective lives.
I met a girl named Kaela late last week. Kaela is a sorority sister of my dearest darling JaNae, and we all come from the same area. Now, if you recall, I met JaNae while studying abroad in Madrid two years ago. It was so cool to meet with Kaela, who is good friends with some of my good friends, while she's studying abroad in Buenos Aires, to talk about studying abroad and how awesome it is. She asked me about how I ended up here, and the whole thing's really kind of funny. It goes a little something like this:
I went to a college where I majored in Spanish. Part of the requirement for my Spanish major was that I earn at least eight credit hours of Spanish-language instruction in a Spanish-speaking country. I didn't particularly want to go abroad, and I didn't particularly want to go to Madrid. But I did, and there I met amazing people, including JaNae, and a bagpipe player from New Zealand who looks like a hobbit. I practically stalked him until he asked me out for drinks, where he told me about a summer camp program in Italy, and how he'd done it for a summer and loved it. I looked into it, applied, and was accepted. During my second summer in Italy, I met a guy named Dave who told me all about a magical place called Argentina. I mulled it over, wandered Europe for a week or so, and then abruptly bought a plane ticket four days before the plane was scheduled to depart. I had a couple of cross-country journeys (Croatia to Italy by ferry overnight, slept in an Italian train station alone, flew to Madrid, laid in wait and reunited with the piping Kiwi), and voila, Lizzie in Buenos Aires. That, children, is how history is made.
Anyway, Kaela is such a sweet and awesome girl, and she thinks that what I'm doing is pretty cool (and I guess it is!). That's so nice to hear, especially when I'm wondering where I'm going to be in a month. I think she really liked hearing my stories because she's in the same spot I was two years ago, when I started on the path that brought me here. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, and that makes me really happy that I went to the college I attended, even though I had so many doubts about it my first couple of years there. If I hadn't gone there, I probably wouldn't have gone to Madrid, and if I hadn't gone to Madrid, I almost certainly wouldn't have met my bagpiping buddy, and I never would have heard about teaching in Italy, and then I wouldn't have met Dave, and I probably wouldn't have thought about coming to Argentina. I'm pretty happy with how things have gone, and that never would have been possible without the college I attended.
What else did I do this weekend. . . let's see, I babysat on Sunday, which was nice. Also babysat today. Guess what today was? Yep, another zoo day. We saw the sea lion show today. The little one clapped along.
I have to say, retelling my life story really took it out of me. Definitely need some Gossip Girl to recupe. Did I mention I'm almost all caught up? If you're not impressed, you should be. A month ago, I hadn't seen any more than the first season. Now I'm halfway through the fourth.
Jealous?
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