At our last group gathering of the trip, just hours before some of us had to leave and just hours after some had already gone, Lukas gave a speech. Suddenly, everyone was standing up and saying how grateful they were, in a way that was so authentically them.
Lukas told us how we’d all meet again sometime, on purpose or by some crazy chance that put us in the same space once more. Ryan expressed his appreciation for everything and everyone. Kevin vowed to return, as a man, in the most quintessential Kevin-style you could dream up. Igor wished us all luck and told us to come back one day. Annie reminded us that literally nobody else in the world experienced what we were experiencing in that moment. Abby remarked on how we made such a leap to choose Santiago over somewhere like Italy and that we did things that others simply wouldn’t understand. Almost everyone gave a speech of some sort, a lot of which I didn’t catch on video to remember and all of which made us so damn sentimental.
When I stood up to say something, it ended up being along the lines of ‘I love you all and I’m not sure what to say right now but I’m sure I’ll write a blog post about it.’ Even though I’ve wanted to kick myself since then for not better articulating my thoughts in person- here it is. 112 days since March 16. I’m sure this won’t be posted today, but after our zoom calls and plans to compile a video of everyone’s memories and reading Ryan’s post that brought back alllll the feelings, it felt like time to finally get this out there.
*Here we are, 167 days since then. We’re all back to class in some capacity. Some of us have finally had the chance to reconnect in person, some are planning to soon. A new semester brings back so many memories as we all begin to fall into another pattern, but one so different than any of us could have prepared for. I’ve heard so many classmates talking about their experiences last spring from not being able to get back to campus to going online, and we were going through all of that but in a way that was so different, so distinct. The world has changed even more since I first wrote this, but just now does it finally feel like the right time to say it.
Most of us came to Chile excited for our first experience living in another country for a significant amount of time, but some didn’t. Some of us had already lived abroad in multiple other countries. Some of us had studied abroad before, in a non-traditional way or for a shorter period of time, but some hadn’t. Some of us had never left the states before this. Regardless of our backgrounds, who had traveled and who hadn’t, who was fluent in Spanish and who had never spoken a full sentence, we all came to Chile to gain something new. We gained so much even in our shortened time in the country. It’s so hard to describe what it meant to have all chosen to go to a relatively lesser-know country in South America vs. choosing Thailand or Spain or Australia. We all got so close because our group was smaller than usual, we all chose to come despite protests that then seemed so daunting but now are commonplace in our own country, as well.
What a funny thing, to be dragged to a home that feels less like home during a global pandemic that ramped up while most of us were on spring break at the edge of the world and to then be involved with, or at least aware of, protests that made it feel for some of us like we were right back in the heart of Santiago.
How insane is it that we had this experience that was truly so different from a typical study abroad trip but on top of that we, out of everyone who has ever done something similar, got called home just as we felt like we were hitting our stride.
I know that most of us had so many plans after spring break- to stay in the city more and truly appreciate where we were living, to go to Easter Island with friends or family, to travel afterward and see Machu Picchu, the salt flats, Iguazu Falls, and so much more. None of us were ready to say goodbye and that is why it was so hard to do so.
The absurdity of how we had to leave aside, I made some of the best memories of my life with all of you. I’ve traveled before, but never like that. Never with a home base and host families and program directors that so encouraged us to travel each weekend and come back and learn from the city itself each week. From aimlessly walking under the stars in the Atacama Desert to navigating with no service on trips to Argentina to swimming in that lake by the dock in Pucón to hiking in Patagonia, it was nothing short of perfect. It’s hard to say goodbye when there aren’t quite the right words in the English language, or Spanish, to describe the utter feelings of unity that our situations and experiences brought us.
So, here’s to being home for over 2 times as long as we were ever together. Here’s to planning trips 2 days ahead of time in R7 and then going to Zapallo afterward for a salad. Here’s to getting to finally know each other well in Viña del Mar and one last group trip to Pomaíre. Here’s to moments and places and memories that changed us all, whether we knew it at the time or not.
Here’s to us and to USAC and to Santiago and to a shared experience we couldn’t possibly forget. To the semester that almost didn’t happen. I love you all, and am so incredibly grateful to have learned and grown alongside each and every one of you. Like Lukas said, one day in eight years maybe we’ll run into each other in an airport somewhere and be reminded of how crazy this world is.
Chao.
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