Closure

It has been a week and a half since I´ve been back in Minnesota and I feel like I never left. Honestly, the whole two months that I was in Chile seem like one of those dreams where you wake up and say...what was that all about? I met some great people, realized a lot about myself and hopefully motived a few students to study...English or whatever, it would be a miracle to have encouraged most of the students I was working with to continue studying anything and not drop out of school. I think just my presence in their classroom showed some of them that it is possible to go places with education.

Here is the part where I summarize everything that I learned while I was in Chile.
At the begining of my trip I wrote that I felt like I was searching for something...what it was I had no idea. Through the struggles and the joys that surpassed me in Chile, I realized that I had been searching for openness, love and acceptance. This fact hit me after spending a few days with a family whom I met (the son is an English teacher at a high school in the area). They were the most united and close family I have ever met. I spent hours in their house just talking about everything and nothing...telling and listening to stories. To Pati, the mother, her family is everything. They do everything together. One day I was thinking about how comfortable I felt with this family when I realized that they are very similar to my family. That is when I realized that everything I had been looking for in Chile, I have in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I have family who accept me and love me, I have friends to whom I can tell everything. Now, I feel like it is my time settle down for a while and share this openness, love, and acceptance with other people who are searching it.

For the first time, I felt completely elated to come home after traveling. My heart was not torn apart and I didn´t feel like I needed to be in any other place besides at home in Minnesota. I ran in the airport from the terminal to baggage to meet my brother.

I´ve been home for a week and half and I´ve fit more in than can be imagined. It is a complete change from my life in Chile where I barely had a social life and rarely did anything fun. I am grateful for my time in Chile and I´m glad that I got to know a little bit of Chile. Someday, (soon after I save up money after I get a job) I would like to return to Chile to get to know the north and the south. I would also like to travel all around South America.

Who knows what life holds for me. I am glad that I made friends in Chile with whom I will always maintain contact. I am satisfied now knowing that everything I want is right here. I appreciate my family and my friends here more than ever before! I´m sure I will get the itch to travel again soon, and hopefully I will be able to teach abroad for a while. However, for now, I am content finishing my degree and finding a job around here...for now ;)