And The Reality Of A Year Abroad Is That I'll Never See Some People Again

March 9th,

I woke up at 7:15, worked out, ate breakfast and arrived at the facultad early.  Walking over to the political science college, I ran into the professor who had interviewed me for my Relaciones Internacionales final and he told me that there would be no class.  I went to the facultad any way to check out grades as I have to turn them into the UC study center.

In Historia Política Social Contemporánea, we watched an old, cinema verité style film called "La Primera Carga del Machete."  While watching the movie, I was thinking about the huge project on Imperialism and the United States that I would have to give next week. I'd been wanting to make a documentary about the opinions of other students on the topic of Imperialism and whether they think the United States is an Imperialist state.  After class I began the collection of films and opinions.  I wanted to ask students from different countries and started off by interviewing my friend Jon as the opinion of the United States, a kid from Hungary, another from France and later my apartment mate Antonio.  I asked each person three questions:  "Where are you from?" "What is your definition of Imperialism?"  "Do you think that the United States is an Imperialist State?"  I wanted as many interviews as possible and planned on editing them all together.

Leaving the facultad I went shopping in Mercado Central and Mercadona.  I then went to Master Tutorial where I think I did well on our first grammar test.  Back home, I loaded up the videos that I had collected during the day and also spliced together clips from "Gladiator," "Saving Private Ryan," and "Black Hawk Down," to show an "Imperialism Evolution," and spice up the project.

That afternoon, Antonio and I went to the travel agency and put down our down payment for Egypt.  We are going!  It should be an amazing trip.  Back home I bought my one way ticket to Barcelona to meet up with my mom and looked at other trips.

My dad had told me that my Great Uncle Theodore had been really sick and I asked him for the number so I could call him and Aunt Belle.  When I talked to Aunt Belle, she told me that he had passed away earlier that day.  I felt sad and remembered some fond old memories of him that I had had from a long time ago.  This year abroad is a once in a life time opportunity and I've been enjoying every minute of it.  At the same time, I realize that I can't pause the rest of the world nor expect everything to be the same when I return.