Today, for the first time since being here, I realized what a luxury it was to study abroad. That sounds silly, but it's true. By "luxury" I don't pretend to mean that I never realized the privilege I had by being able to study abroad nor do I not value my experience here in any way shape or form.

I was talking to my host dad tonight, (who finally came back!) and we somehow got lost in another political discussion about why Argentinean society doesn't trust government, and no one truly believe that it's a representative democracy despite the fact that on paper, it appears one of the best functioning in Latin America. And as we sat there together, talking about history, and past presidents, and social events that have affected the vision and path of Argentinian society, I realized for the first time what a wonderful luxury it is to live in another place, and truly experience what it has to offer. I think I spent the first few months here trying to catch up- facts, stories, classes. All seemed to wiz by. Tonight, for the first time, I applied it. I had a fluent conversation about socio-political factors that affect society today with an argentinan citizen, and I find that so amazing. I feel like I'm not really conveying what I mean to say here. How to best describe it (oh language barriers.. haha).

Not everyone is afforded the luxury of going to another place and truly throwing themselves into it. I've been lucky enough to travel before, but I have never felt something click the way it did tonight. I think there's definitely a period of time necessary to truly understand where you are, and the implications of what you see. You pass through stages: at first everything's new, clean, and shiny. You're a tourist in a new place. Then it starts to become "normal" and the little things stop jumping out at you. Then you begin to miss the comforts of home. Then, finally, I think (if you're lucky enough) you start to be able to reconcile the two and understand how your world comes into play with the other world you're experiencing living in a new place. Tonight, for the first time, I realized that not many people get that chance. How often can you essentially pause life and go somewhere else and start anew? Study what you want. Learn the ways of a new people, of a new city, of a new way of life?

It's strange- going into this ISP period I really was dreading the experience. A full month to do research on your own has so many potential drawbacks, frustrations and also benefits. For example, I KNOW my spanish has gotten worse since living with two Americans for the better part of two weeks. (It's visible in how semi-decent my grammatical structure is at this point). But I also think this period taught me the most about myself. With the freedom to do what I want, or rather to use my time the way I wanted, in order to see what I wanted, I was really able to gear the experience towards what I wanted to learn. And I have. And I love that.

12 days left? Geez. Where'd the time go?