An Ode to Senior Year?

Or an open letter to anyone who actually keeps up with me via this blog, because it'll have updates on my life.  Or an open letter to my fan club {FYI, it doesn't exist}.  Or really, an invite to anyone who wants to read about what it's like to be a senior, at 21 years old, in one of the best universities in the nation {BOOOMER, am I right?}, and still trying to figure your life out.

Sentiments on that matter?

Also known as, I HAVE NO FRICKIN CLUE.

I have always prided myself on being someone that feels like they have their life figured out.  I mean, I still do pride myself on that.  I have a pretty specific idea on what I want to do with my future, I'm still enjoying my major, and I have roots/a MASSIVE support system {who I never dedicate near enough credit...} at my university.  But internally, you know where I'm at with all of that?

Yeah. Right there with Ron Weasley in the forest with all the giant spiders.  Classes are HARD, y'all.  In case most of you are wondering {PLOT TWIST: you aren't} what International Security classes consist of, they look like the following:

Small Wars/Low Intensity Conflicts

Modern Iran 1500-Present

State & Society of Pakistan

History of Central America & the Caribbean

I have all of those on Tuesday/Thursday.  That means I am involved, quite literally, in four different countries on the days that I have class.  Don't think it's all rainbows and unicorns in the Middle East and Latin America--I know, sounds great to have classes twice a week.  But did you know that most of my professors assign anywhere from 60-100 pages of reading a week?  How many of you read 400 pages a week?  Probably not very many, if I had to guess it.  At least I'm enjoying my classes though.  The highlight of my year has easily been Dr. Shah asking if we had anyone that was against gun control in one of my classes and the entire class kept their hands down.  DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I HAVE WAITED TO BE IN A CLASS FULL OF LIBERAL THINKERS?!  Goodness.

Anyway, another thing I want to touch on: getting involved on campus.  Everyone can appreciate a campus climber, isn't that right?!?!?!?!

{actual feels on campus climbers}

It's cool that y'all are so involved that you can't even tell me what you're involved in or why you're involved in it, but did I really ask you how many meetings you have this week or how busy you are???

HINT: I'm semi-involved.  When I say semi, it's because I LOVE the organizations I am involved in on campus.  I am fully invested in bettering each of those organizations, but I know better than to spread myself too thin.  

Continuing on--I GOT A JOB!  I am now working at Madewell and I absolutely love it.  I have never worked retail until I started here, but for those of you that know me, you know how much I love getting to interact with people so it's been perfect.

Needless to say, I'm busy.  But once again, for those of you that know me, you know I thrive on being busy and that's okay.  I'm getting used to waking up and looking at my planner every morning again, writing papers {did I mention the 6000 word paper I have due in December?}, and reading like a crazy person all over again.  It's October and midterms are upon us.  As well as OU/Texas, but I got severely...screwed over, on my ticket for OU/TX.  So for maybe the 4th time in 15 years, I'll be missing OU/TX.  Instead, I'll be in Norman studying my brains out and going shopping for bridesmaids dresses with Ivy for the weekend.

It's October and I have survived being back in America for the last two and a half months!!!  Who would've thought?  COLSA (Colombian Student Association) has definitely kept me level though.  I miss Colombia more and more every day.  I've been meeting back up with old teachers, old friends, so on.  The typical response I get is usually as follows: Well Clegg, how does it feel to be back?  I kept up with all your adventures, you look like you had a good time.  Not many people your age have their sh*t together like you, ya know."

Response?

But here I am.  Don't worry, my social life hasn't suffered too much due to all of my other things I am juggling.  However, not many people want to go to the bars with me anymore--they tell me I "know too many people".  Why is that even a thing?  I guess between my friends in California, Tennessee, Texas, and here, I'm a pretty lucky person.  In the meantime, this is really just a blog to give me a study break, let me release some steam, and also allows me to update you on the life of Clegg {AMERICAN AGAIN!!!}  

The main takeaways from this?  It's okay to not know what you're doing tomorrow, where you're at in life, how you feel about someone, or an answer on your next quiz you have in class.  It's okay to not know, so long as you eventually learn.

Thanks for letting me babble on and share my typical, unfiltered opinions.  Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures from my senior year and keep up with me via Instagram and snapchat too.  I'm fun.

Peace and blessings, y'all.

Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty.

-Brian Greene

Reverse Culture Shock -- Part 2

It's definitely a real thing.

You have to adjust to not listening to reggaeton all the time, going to parties at 9 PM instead of 12 AM, not having arepas and a delicious breakfast waiting on you every morning, and not constantly having someone to ask you to ACTUALLY dance.  

Nonetheless, I'm adjusting.  It's not as easy as you would think it would be.  I was even having to adjust to the food again--I was sick for the first week I was home.  I guess that's the world telling me the last 8 months of traveling and living abroad are officially over.

I say that as I sit in the Dulles airport; it appears that despite all of my new experience traveling, my luck with flying has not gotten any better (thanks to American and United) and my patience has gotten even worse than it was before.  I don't mean my patience for new things and new people, I mean my patience for ignorance and how people have no conscience for people around them.  But that's okay.

I came back and had a week at home with my wonderful mama and grandma, as well as my niece and sister in visiting.  They flew out on a Thursday, I moved to Norman the following morning, and then into the dorms the day after that for Panhellenic recruitment.  Let me tell you, the exec side of recruitment for Panhellenic is much better than being on your chapter's side.  It's not half as stressful, you get to root for all the girls going through rush instead of only about 80 of them, and you don't even have to sing or clap.  And I loved every single person I got to meet and work with last week, so that was nice.  Thankful for Bre Bober living with me for like 10 days straight.

I flew to Virginia afterwards, which ended up being a nightmare and I had to sleep in Chicago O'Hare for a night; I suppose I could have it worse, but that's the closest thing to frostbite I think I have ever felt.  I'm not even kidding.  I ended up flying into Reagan and then chasing my bag all the way into Dulles because that's where it landed.  Definitely learned my lesson that if you can carry on your luggage, do it.  I was lucky enough to get to spend a little bit of time at the beach with my dad for a good week of eating, even better weather, and some time to relax before classes start.  I met some interesting people this week--between Frankie, the redneck from Richmond with a jar of moonshine, and the tea-partying Catholic lady from Massachusetts who believed in miracles and also, ghosts.  Needless to say, it's been a hell of an interesting time.

Now, onto classes again.  And all the extracurriculars that come with it, but most importantly, all my people back in Norman.  I really am still adjusting to the States; I have friends who occasionally send me texts in Spanish and sometimes when I read them, I start saying something out loud in Spanish that doesn't make any sense to anyone but myself.  It's boring not waking up to a new adventure every day, but let's hope that senior year does nothing but bring new adventures and opportunities to my lap.  Meanwhile, enjoy these.

Say yes, and you'll figure it out afterwards.

-Tina Fey

Jardín

Quito --> Bogotá --> Cartagena --> Bogotá --> Quito --> Bogotá --> Jardín --> Medellín --> Bogotá --> Pachavita --> Bogotá.

In case you all were wondering, that's what life has been like for the past four weeks.  And I've loved every minute of it.

After I returned from Quito, I slept a night, then immediately woke up the next morning to go to a meeting and pack to leave that night for Medellín so I could meet Carolina and we could catch a bus from there to Jardín.  Jardín is in Antioquia and part of the coffee region--we went there to spend three days in the school they have (grades pre-k through 12) and teach English.  I have never been somewhere where a group of kids enjoy education so much.  Immediately, Carolina and I knew that our hearts had been in the right place for a while and had our feelings confirmed by the way we were treated by Mercedes (a professor and our guide for the week), the principal of the school, and the kids.  Each and every one of them wanted to know about the United States, learn more English, and even asked me about my time in Ecuador; a number of them were shocked that I had picked up another language in five months--of course, it had been many more years than that of studying, but got all of my practice in during my time in Ecuador.  

Do you know how cool it is to have students referring to you as "profe"?!  As in profesora.  YEAH.  Pretty cool.  Anyway.

So getting on with the story, Merce was nice enough to show us her students and her little pueblo all week, as well as feed us and keep us busy.  I am bringing home more than enough coffee from my trip there, so that's good news.  At the end of our trip, we headed to Medellín to explore for a day.  We went to Plaza de Botero and rode the metro--but I wasn't impressed at all with Medellín.  It's a pretty dirty city with a lot of poverty, but it also didn't feel safe at all.  We found out that most of the cool things to do "in Medellín" are actually on the outskirts of the city, but we didn't have time for that.  After an annoying encounter with a cab driver to the bus station, we got on a bus to head back to Bogotá.  We finally got back and I rested all day Sunday.  Sunday night, Carolina headed to mass with the Cerquera family so I stayed home and took care of a number of emails for school and so forth.  Julie and I ordered a pizza while we waited for the rest of the family to get back and then I headed to bed.  Pretty uneventful weekend before we had to pack up to head to Pachavita.  

Pachavita was pretty cool, but the pueblo itself is TINY and the people weren't as welcoming as most people in Colombia have been, which was rough.  But luckily, the kids made up for it!  There were even a few who cried whenever we left because they were going to miss us.  We were supposed to leave Friday afternoon, but Pachavita is so rural and up a mountain, that since it had rained all week, the buses couldn't get to us.  We piled into a truck to go into Garagoa, a town that was fairly close to where we were.  It was still a bizarre experience though, that's for sure.  

Now we're back in Bogotá, relaxing before we start this crazy week to end our trip.  3 days left in South America and it's really breaking my heart, but I hope that I can return ASAP.  It's been such an incredible experience to spend almost 8 months down here, but it's time to go home.  School awaits and I'm pumped to get the ball rolling for senior year!

Where is the good in goodbye?

-Anonymous

Deuces, Quito!

Well, I went back to Quito for my last time this past weekend.

The weekend before that, I was in Cartagena.

The weekend before that, I was in Quito.

It's safe to say that I could go a while without a plane ride.  Of course, I say that and I am on a ten hour bus to Medellín only to try and catch another bus to Jardín--a small town we will be working in for SEF for the next few days.  I realize I'm doing this all wrong--starting from the recent, working backwards, and then talking about the present.

You all already know how well my first trip to Quito went, so I guess I'll move onto Cartagena.

Cartagena was beautiful and is everything that everyone ever tells you it will be--beautiful, HOT, and pricey--at least, by Colombian standards.  Most people there have a little bit of English because they're so used to foreigners coming to visit.  Especially backpackers.  Cartagena was immediately off to a rough start when Carolina and I woke up at 7 AM for an 8:30 AM flight.  I hadn't packed, or even had the chance to scratch my eyes and stretch for the day before we were running into a cab to make it to the airport.  Luckily, timing isn't exactly a Colombian virtue, so our Viva Colombia flight ended up being fine.  Off to Cartagena we went--it's about a 17 hour bus ride, so the $100 roundtrip flight was worth it.  We arrived, napped, then went to walk around Old Town.  Carolina and I killed some serious time in that place, then wandered to the city wall to watch the sun set on the ocean.  It's pretty cool.  There were all kinds of things going on in Old Town, from people doing the traditional dances to some random man meditating and floating in midair (still puzzled...) in front of the church.  We returned to the hostel, decided to change, and went to dinner at some delicious Argentinian steak house.  Afterwards, we wanted to try to go to the Havana Cafe but they had a cover charge; I only wanted to go because I had heard from our friend Bryce (backpacker from our very first flight into Bogotá) that THE Hillary Clinton had been there to party before.  We settled on a small bar with a mojito for a night cap and immediately went home to sleep.  Sunday, we woke up super early to get our trip going.  We were going to Isla Barú for the day.  Let me tell you, one of the prettiest beaches I have EVER been to.  

Sunday started early.  We ran to a spot with a bunch of other foreigners who all piled into a van and headed to the docks to get on some speed boat.  We took it out to Isla Barú and quickly realized we were in paradise.  Massages are cheap on the beach, but there are also a lot of vendors.  If you're not careful, no matter how hard you try, they will end up forcing you into buying something.  We spent all day in Barú, dealt with some creepy Peruvian man, met a couple from New York, and were soon back in Cartagena.  We napped for about four hours afterwards and then dragged our sunburnt and exhausted bodies to a pizza shop where they were selling entire pizzas for roughly four bucks.  Easily, Cartagena was my favorite city I have EVER seen.  It tops anywhere in Ecuador, the United States, and Mexico.  

We figured we would wake up the next day and walk around Cartagena a little more but we had seen everything except for the San Felipe castle; we walked to that and realized we were literally out of things to do.  So although we had a night flight at about ten PM, we headed to the airport to wait for about eight hours.  It was entirely too hot to walk around Cartagena and we were both exhausted.  We flew home with no problems at all.  Thankfully, Bogotá wasn't as cold as it usually is when we landed.  Our awesome host siblings were waiting at the airport too, SO NO TAXI!  That's always a welcome change.

Carol got food poisoning the day after though, so we worked from home.  Somehow, I didn't get food poisoning, despite eating the same things as her all weekend.  Must be those Ecuadorian antibodies or something.  

During the week, I decided to go back to Ecuador one more time to see my host family and (now) boyfriend.  It's weird to call Raul my boyfriend.  It just doesn't seem real--then again, I guess 21 years of never having a boyfriend can do that to you.  He picked me up from the airport and took me to my host mom's, where he chatted with her and my host sister for a while, and then we went to Kobe, aka my favorite sushi place in all of Ecuador.  Afterwards, we headed to his house so I could see his family again and then watched a movie.  FYI, Pineapple Express is kind of funny but really stupid.  100% don't recommend.  Saturday started early; I have missed waking up to chat with my host mom over a bowl of fruit and fresh bread and juice.  After explaining to her that yes, I was dating the Ecuadorian boy she met the night before, she insisted that I marry him in Ecuador so she can come.  Not yet mamá Gladys, not yet.

Later on, Raul and his dad and baby brother picked me up to grab some breakfast and head to Centro Historico with his sister too.  We met up with his mama since she was working and had lunch at some really random restaurant; there was a wine cave in the bottom with tables and what not to eat at.  Easily one of the coolest restaurants I have ever been to.  After, we walked around for a little, then went to the president's palace--shoutout to Raul's mama for getting us in, because it was actually pretty cool.  But y'all know me, I totally love that kind of thing.  We walked around some more until his mom got off work, then headed back to the house to relax and watch House of Cards.  Finally, it was time to head home and get ready because everyone was heading out that night.  Raul and I met up with all of his friends at Kong, plus Anthony, my favorite partner in crime.  Hahaha.  So worth it though, Kong was a blast and I got to see more people than I had bargained on seeing during my short stay in Quito.  Thanks to Dragon, despite dressing like a peasant because I hadn't planned on going out while I was there, I got into Kong without a problem.  Later, I just went home and went straight to bed.  

Sunday morning, Raul's family came and picked me up to head to Machachi for breakfast.  It was a rural town but has a famous cafe for breakfast that we went to, and then something random like an agricultural fair.  A day well spent wandering around, but goodbyes aren't easy.  We headed to the airport later.  Tears were shed, etc.  But I survived and left Ecuador with a boyfriend.  Bet y'all didn't see that one coming!  Anyway, huge thanks to my host fam in Ecuador and Raul, for sharing his family and friends with me all weekend.  I honestly miss Quito so much already, it'll definitely take some adjusting back in Norman this August. 

 

Now here I am, on a bus to Medellin, trying to control my laptop from sliding off my lap.  Who knows.  Less than three weeks left, but thankfully, my sister and niece will be in from Virginia when I get back to Oklahoma and I get to help my best friend pick out a wedding dress.  Can't believe we're already halfway through 2015.  Speaking of which, I got an email about graduation the other day and might have cried.  Adulthood scares me.

Quito, I'll see you again, I hope.

To the rest of the world, surprised yet?  The answer is probably yes for most of you, but for those of you who know me, it's absolutely not.

Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.

-Jacob Bronowski

Bogotá: Week 2 to now, plus everything in between

My goodness, has it really already been almost a month since I've been in this wonderful country?  Carolina and I got here June 3 and it is already June 29.  But we have loved every second!  We have been completely surprised at how great our internship has gone; not that we thought it was going to be bad, but I don't think either of us ever thought we would be so close to our coordinators.

SPEAKING OF WHICH.  They took us to Girardot, a smaller vacationing area of Colombia a couple of weeks ago for a holiday weekend.  We stayed in a house that Edwin built, swam all weekend, and spent time with Edwin's awesome family.  I've learned so much since I've been here in Colombia, so I'll share as I go on with my stories.

1. Colombia and Ecuador have both made me really wish I had a super large family.

2. Colombia has THREE holidays in the month of June, all Catholic holidays.

Of course, I got sunburnt in Girardot.  Luckily, no sun poisoning and the burn didn't hurt.  It's always so funny when I get burnt in South America because it typically isn't horrible, I'm just red.  But everyone around me notices and comments on it, then asks me how bad it hurts.  Bizarre, but so funny.  Also, something else bizarre, they serve hot chocolate here in a HUGE mug, with a big block of cheese to tear apart and put into it.  So when it melts, you can scoop it out and eat it.

3. Cheese can go with everything down here.  Desserts, drinks, foods, especially all over pizza.

We made it back from Girardot just fine though and worked another week.  The following week, on Friday, Nestor (Edwin's dad) invited us to hike Monserrate with him.  As much as you think that an older gentleman would never be able to make it up Monsserate, you are sadly mistaken.  He probably could have hiked up and down in the time that it took me to make it to the top.  Luckily, Erika stayed behind with me; once we got to the top, she told me all about everything that was up there and why it was there.  It was kind of like taking a professor on the hike with me, hahaha.

I forgot to mention that she also took us to a Venezuelan restaurant for lunch two weeks ago and it was the best food I have ever eaten.  I EVEN ATE SALAD.  How many of you ever thought Clegg would eat salad and enjoy it?

Anyway, after the hike, we took the Funicular down, which is like a train made of nothing but windows.  It was really cool, but we beat Nestor, Carolina, and Valentina down because we thought they were already down waiting for us.  While we were waiting, a few people in Colombia sweat suits started to gather.  Turns out, we were in the presence of the Colombia National Boxing Team!

4. You are never too old to ask for a picture. Ever.

Friday night, we headed to Cali.  Not California, but Cali, Colombia.  HOME OF SALSA.  Thank God for my Aunt Nancy and her old host student, Andrés.  Andrés walked us ALL over the city and then later that night, we went out and he taught us both how to salsa.  It was definitely our favorite weekend in Colombia so far!  That Sunday was Father's day and we got to spend it with Andrés, his little brother Juanes, and his dad while watching the Colombia game.  Colombia didn't win, but at that point, they had moved on anyway.  Afterwards, we went back, got our things together, and went to eat cholados. I don't know exactly what they are still, other than a lot of fruit, some jelly/marmalade, and creme.  Basically that's all you need to know anyway.  After that, we went to see Cristo de Rey of Cali but it was already closed.  We still had an awesome view of Cali though, thanks to Andrés.  Really, we owe our entire weekend to Andrés because he shared his home and his friends with us.  OH AND HOW CAN I FORGET--I had this stuffed arepa and it was heaven.  Literally, all the food in Cali was heaven.  Cali was heaven.  Back to the real world though and to work.  That is, for two days or so.  Then, off to Ecuador!

I took a cab to the airport Wednesday to catch my flight to Quito.

5. Cab drivers are the most interesting people to talk to because they typically know so much about the city.

I didn't even struggle through security or the ticket counter, so I was feeling pretty confident.  After getting to my gate, where we took a bus to the tarmac and climbed into the plane, I was super excited to get to Ecuador.  I sat in the very last row of the plane and ended up not having anyone else in my row.  That was nice too, but of course, I'm a talker so I kind of wished I had had someone to pass the time with.  Getting back into Ecuador wasn't much of a struggle either--I thought it might be since I had just spent 5 months there.  Jose was waiting on me with his mama so I had a ride back.  I headed back to Cumbaya with him to grab sushi from my favorite place and wait on Raul to get out of class; I said bye to Jose and headed to Bo's with Raul.  Raul left a little bit later and I went out to ladies night with Bo; I've missed Bungalow hahaha.  I even found an OU flag waiting on me!

Thursday morning, I tried to get the wifi to work to Skype and couldn't get it to function.  So I basically just spent all afternoon with Raul watching Netflix.  How I Met Your Mother is definitely not House of Cards, but it's good enough.  Later, we walked to the mall to get food.  What's funny is that when people ask me the differences between Bogotá and Quito, I always talk about being cat called.  No one believes me that the cat calls are horrible in Quito, but they are.  Even walking with Raul, someone started whistling on the way, calling me gringuita and guapa and princess, the usual.  Needless to say, my point was proven.  We basically just wandered around chatting after dinner until he had to go home.  I spent the rest of my time with Bo, catching up and watching 10 things I hate about you on Netflix.  Since there were so many protests in Quito on Thursday, it was pretty tough to cross the city so I'm glad I stayed close.

Friday was just kind of a relaxing day, without much to do until I went to Raul's later to watch even more Netflix and hang out with him and his sister.  It's pretty cool when you find someone who you can hang out with and be super content watching Netflix with all night.  I took a cab home--they all try to rip you off at night and charge extra because "it's late".  Typical.

Saturday morning, I woke up at Bo's and headed "home"--aka host mama's house.  I took her to the best brunch place I have ever been to in Quito, named Jurgen's (shout out to Amilia and Antonia) and she had never been, even though it was within walking distance.  After hanging out with her for a few hours and sharing stories about Colombia, I headed to Raul's...yeah, again.  His mama wanted to meet me!  Which was both exciting and nerve-wracking for me.  Moms are intimidating, but it's almost always guaranteed that I'll get along with the dads.  Host mom wished me luck and walked me downstairs to find a cab.  The driver looked a little odd so she took his card and told me to text her when I got to Raul's.  The cab ride was....interesting to say the least.  Of course, he asked me what my name was.

6. EVERY TAXI DRIVER YOU WILL EVER MEET WILL FREAK OUT WHEN YOU SAY YOUR NAME IS RAQUEL.  They love it, refer to the Bible, then unnecessarily roll the R and incessantly refer to you as Raquel.

Anyway, he talked to me about Correa and the history of Quito and then we got "lost".  Even though I  knew right where we were, he wouldn't listen to me.  Calls to Raul failed, so he continued to say he didn't know where he was going and asking people on the street.  Finally, almost to Raul's, he begins asking me what I'm doing that day.  I started getting a weird vibe, and then next thing I know, he is asking me on a date.  So I casually tell him I'm going to my boyfriend's to meet his family, hoping that Raul will be outside when I get there....naturally, he decides that he's going to charge me $7 instead of the $5 he debated with my host mom.  I gave him $5 and quickly said bye.

Raul's mama made a massive lunch of crab and salmon and salad.  I have never cracked crab before...luckily, his entire family was full of pros.  So I sat with Joaquin, his seven year old brother, and learned along side him.  Nothing is embarrassing anymore, I suppose.  Afterwards, we watched the Brazil-Paraguay game and then headed to the movies.  Thankfully, Raul is about as impatient as I am with movies and we both thought Jurassic World was horrible.  We went to Guapulo to enjoy the rest of the night since it was late, but still beautiful outside.  It was literally such a perfect day, full of the Navarrete family and so many things to do.

Sunday was hard.  It was actually really hard.  I got up and packed, said bye to Bo, and headed back to Raul's once again.  His family, being as sweet as they are, took me all around Quito with them.  We stopped in Jardín to see my sweet friend Daniel for one last time and then just wandered around Quicentro for a while.  When I thought we were done, his dad told us we were going to his grandma's so we could have lunch and I could meet her before I left.  That's when it hit me that I was leaving in a few short hours and I didn't have much time left with Raul, which sucked.  I'm not an emotional gal, but awkwardly started tearing up when I was saying bye to his grandma.  We went back to Raul's and I got another solid hour with him and Netflix before we officially had to leave.  His parents were nice enough to drive me all the way to the airport and let us say bye.  Easily, the hardest goodbye I've ever said.  Luckily, the ugly tears didn't happen in front of Raul or at the check-in counter, but at the gate.  In front of a number of confused Colombians.  

7. It's okay to have feelings, even if it means they are for someone who doesn't live in the same country as you. Or on the same continent.

Today was a holiday in Colombia, so we relaxed at home all day.  It was weird because it's the first day back in Bogotá and after getting into a routine of spending all my time with Raul, it made it that much harder.  But Carolina and I are certainly excited to see what is to come for the rest of our internship and time here with the Cerquera family.

The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.

-Charles Dickens

First week/weekend

There's a first time for everything, am I right or am I right?

I say that because my American Airlines flight was on time!!!!  I'm just as surprised as y'all are.  Best of all, even my LUGGAGE ARRIVED ON THE SAME FLIGHT AS ME!

Anyway, we traveled all night Tuesday and arrived in Bogotá on Wednesday morning at around 12:15.  We met someone named Bryce, who was about our age, on our flight.  As if y'all thought that me traveling here with someone and having a host family was dangerous, Bryce is backpacking about Colombia for the next two weeks.  Insane, right?  You learn a lot about a person on a five hour flight. Now, we are settled into our host family's house and they are all so sweet.  This is actually the first time I have ever lived in a house with men in it (once again, first time for everything) so adjusting to that.  I have a host mom, host dad, host brother, and host sister and of course, Carolina is with me and has known them since she was just a little nugget.

I'm back in the land of fresh food.  IT IS SO GREAT.  I woke up Wednesday with Carolina and our host mama, Patricia, had prepared a breakfast for us full of fresh fruit and fresh juice and eggs.  I had mentioned to her the night before that I liked arepas, so she prepared one of those for me too.  I can't complain whatsoever.  Once we got going on Wednesday, we had a FULL day.  We met up with Erika, our internship coordinator, to go over our intern tasks.  Luckily, she's like Carolina and I in the fact that she's excited and can work with two scatter-brained girls.  We went and grabbed lunch afterwards and I had some delicious Colombian food.  Seriously, you have no idea.  We met Edwin's (our other coordinator and Erika's husband) mama because it was her restaurant, she's a phenomenal lady too.  We left, caught a cab back to Erika's, grabbed our things and got ready to leave.  Somehow, in the midst of all of that, we had a typo in the address that we sent to our Uber driver.  Needless to say, we got lost.  We went south instead of north, and ended up spending two hours in the cab.  What are the odds?

We got home safely though!  Shout out to Patricia for her patience.  She's also hysterical, so I love her.  She also made me try this weird fruit called a guama and they're weird, but so delicious.  Seriously, google them.  Afterwards, we went to Jumbo (their version of Super Target) and picked up a few things.  I told Carolina we need to order our tickets soon to Ecuador because the Pope is coming, so tickets will be expensive if we don't hurry.  I forgot she's Catholic, you should have seen how excited she got.  So excited that she accidentally slammed her head on the inside of the car hahaha.

Surprisingly enough, we have already gotten to travel and just got back from a night-bus trip on Thursday night to Bucaramanga to see how Smile Education Foundation's programs are working there.  We have an AWESOME program in Rionegro going on with a music program that we've been sponsoring.  It's shocking to see how much happiness some xylophones and maracas can bring to a group of kids and their entire community as well.  As most of you know, I have zero patience and kids usually aren't really my thing (unless they are extremely well behaved or I can pass them off to their parents when they start crying/snotting/being bratty) but these kids were SO bright and wonderful.  I can't wait to get the footage that we got up onto the Smile Education Foundation Facebook page.  ALSO LET'S TALK ABOUT THE BUSES HERE!?  Not Ecuador, not even a bit.  They had charging ports and wifi and seats that reclined 160 degrees.  ANYWAY.  Shout out to Edwin and Erika for taking us along and introducing us to the program because it was so great.

After seeing the program in Rionegro, Carolina and I were off to meet Hector & Deisy Mendez, the father & sister of our friend Sergio.  Little did we know, we were in for quite the weekend.  We went and had pizza on Friday night (best idea ever) and went straight to sleep afterwards.  We woke up early Saturday and headed to Chicamocha National Park--easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  Hector showed us all around, walked up and down the mountains with us, and even watched our stuff while we got on the extreme swing.  Best $5 I ever did spend, by the way; then came the trip in dune buggies where Carolina almost drove us off of a mountain.  Lesson learned: Carol drives fast and Colombian dune buggies are not to be trusted.  Anyway, we ate a ton of arepas and enjoyed the whole day.  Although exhausting, it was most definitely worth it.  The following day, we slept in (for our first time since we've been in Colombia) and then got dressed and headed out to see a little bit of Bucaramanga.  Hector and Deisy treated us to lunch at the best steakhouse I have ever been to.  I seriously mean that, the food was so good.  Afterwards, we hit Giron, a small part of Bucaramanga.  It's a cute little town and I also experienced my first Catholic Mass--which was great, but a little bit weird since I had never been before, but still worth the experience.  From there, despite our massive meal at lunch, we went to have dessert in Florida Blanca.  These things called obleas.  Talk about heaven.  Afterwards, we spent some time at the local mall and headed back on a bus.  Such a beautiful weekend with a beautiful family!

Now, obviously, we're back in Bogotá learning the ropes of a massive city; so thankful for Erika and Edwin and their patience with us.  Not to mention Edwin's awesome dad, who treated us to lunch from his bakery today.  He's also hilarious.  Carol and I got back from work today and decided to kind of wander the neighborhood, go to the grocery store, and see what was around us--well worth it. Can't wait to see what else Bogotá has in store for us for sure.  This weekend, we are off to Giradot with Edwin and Erika since Monday is a holiday (this Monday was a holiday too...and in two more weeks, there's another holiday) to catch some rays by the pool.  If all of y'all could say a quick prayer that I don't get sun poisoning again, that would be great.  

Also, bought my ticket to Ecuador this week so Quito, I WILL SEE YOU AND ALL OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE IN TWO SHORT WEEKS!  Peace and blessings, y'all.

If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough. 

-Mario Andretti

Beginning (again) in Bogotá

Clegg here, per usual, after everyone else's bedtimes.

CAROLINA AND I GOT TO DALLAS TODAY!  We fly out tomorrow at 7 PM for Bogotá.  It's all starting to feel real now and I couldn't be more excited.  Carolina's snoozing next to me because she already hasn't slept the last two days out of excitement.  

After my ride fell through to Norman for yesterday, one of my friend's from high school volunteered to drive me to Norman.  So I treated her to Tea Cafe, which has the BEST fried rice in all of Norman, and she was on her way.  My friend Adam stopped by to see me for one last time this summer and then was nice enough to carry my suitcases down the three flights of stairs for me.  How lucky am I?!  Carolina's parents drove us to my grandparents' today from Norman and we all went out to eat at Texas Land & Cattle, aka the BEST steak place in all of Dallas (I think).  After some getting to know everyone a little more, we quickly returned and here we are.

Carolina and I received some seriously exciting news already as well.  We will literally get to hit the ground running once we get to Colombia!  We don't land until after midnight on Wednesday morning and Thursday night (arriving Friday morning), we will be traveling to Bucaramanga to see some of the Smile Education Foundation's investments be put to work, which means we already get to see some precious little kids who are benefitting major from this program.  I cannot believe we have been given such an opportunity already but we are seriously like two jabbering monkeys just going non stop.  

On a more personal note, I realized today how much I've done in the past year and it made me feel really good.  From starting & finishing an internship at the State Department and surviving living in Washington, D.C. for a summer to moving straight back into Norman to start school and to start another internship under Tilley & Nichols.  Moved out of Norman and back home to Owasso, then onto Ecuador for an entire semester.  Although it wasn't legal to work while I was there so I couldn't have an internship, I learned and experienced SO much from my time abroad and gained some serious language skills for Spanish.  I also have a second family abroad AND my friends, who I seriously have shed tears over because I already miss them tons.  Now here I am, off to another place to live and work for a summer, this time it will all be in Spanish.  No worries though, blogs will be kept in English.  I'm actually really freakin' proud of myself because three years ago, if anyone had told me this was happening, I probably would not have believed them.  As cliché as it sounds.  But of course, in hindsight, everything is 20/20.

Thought I'd update y'all and let you know we're flying straight out of Dallas.  Hopefully American Airlines can't mess up a straight through flight like they messed up my Mother's Day surprise...

So keep us in your thoughts as we travel to BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA tomorrow!  

And if you need to get into contact with me, make sure you send TEXT MESSAGES instead of iMessages!  

Peace and blessings.

Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

-Helen Keller

Reverse Culture Shock

Did you know that reverse culture shock is actually a thing?  I remember hearing something about it during our study abroad orientation and I brushed it off as a load of BS because come on, four or five short months in another country can't affect you that much, can it?

PSA: YES IT CAN.

There is so much about Ecuador I already miss, but most of all I miss my friends.  I graduated high school and went to college and made new friends, so when I come home, there's a handful of people I still hang out with and that's it.  Owasso isn't Norman, and it most certainly isn't Quito.  

I miss the mountains and the sushi and even more so, the language.  When I landed in Miami, I was still trying to speak Spanish to everyone I saw.  At least most of Miami is bilingual so they didn't seem bothered by it. Chicago O'Hare was a different story....but that's fine.

Let me just talk a little bit about my friends for a second.  First off, SARAH B JOHNSON, my favorite little Michigan Stater.  I don't think I have ugly cried saying goodbye to someone like that in a long time.  It's bizarre to finally connect with someone and spend basically every day together then one day, you have to just up and leave.  Raul got to see me ugly cry too (sorry for that one...) because once again, goodbye isn't easy and he knows I'm not very emotional so it was just that much worse.  The most comforting part of saying bye to him was knowing that I'll be back soon to see him again AND that he's gonna be in Quito all summer.  Side note, Raul can play the guitar, sing, and loves country music so I guess now I know the subconscious reason on why I enjoyed him so much.  The Saturday before I left, needless to say, was emotional.  Sarah came to help me pack after spending the day with her and Raul.  I cried saying bye to Raul and after that, I was basically a fountain of tears the rest of the day.  Sarah made me cry helping me pack, then later on when I hung out with her and Ivan for my last time, I cried again, then host mom came home and made me cry.  Jose brought me a dozen red roses (which, by the way, customs doesn't let you bring home with you...) and I cried later on over that too, not to mention saying bye to my favorite Ecuadorian was hard enough; plus everyone in America was excited because they thought Clegg was bringing home a boyfriend (sorry for the disappointment everyone haaaa).  I said bye to Marisa that day, along with Laura and Antonia, had a nice and quiet sob sesh to myself.  

Just when I thought the crying was over, Sunday morning came and I had to say goodbye to my host family and sweet host mom.  I don't think I had it together the entire 40 minute cab ride to the airport, but that's fine.  Once I finally got on my plane and headed into Miami, I TRULY thought I was dehydrated enough and out of tears that I would stop.  But then I turned my phone back on and had the sweetest text from Anthony and just started crying all over again.

So I'm back home and love that I'm back with my mama and grandma, but I'm still adjusting.  It's bizarre to not wake up and have a fresh fruit breakfast complete with a scrambled egg and what not waiting on me every morning; it's a wake up call to be back in the real world where I actually have to start doing things for myself again (Gladys, host mom, did everything for me in Ecuador, literally...) and start getting things together for the summer.  Luckily enough, I landed a scholarship that is going to cover my entire internship and time in Colombia for the summer!  

The reason THAT is so huge is because this means I'll be able to afford a flight over from Bogotá into Quito while I'm there, which means I get to see Raul and Jose and Anthony all over again AND I GET TO TAKE CAROLINA WITH ME TO SEE MY COUNTRY!  I would like to claim that I'm Ecua but considering the pale skin and freckles....I just can't pass for it.  

Nonetheless, I catch myself chatting with Sarah every day as if I'm still there, which is hard because sometimes I also catch myself thinking wow I'm hungry I wonder what Sarah is doing...but obviously she's not just a short cab ride away anymore.  When I get bored, I just want to text Marisa because I could always convince her to convince everyone else to go out and do something in Foch.  

I also catch myself getting upset over the price of food here when I could get almuerzo for $2.50 in Ecuador and missing Taconazo with all my friends and a tower of micheladas after classes.  So Ecuador, I will see you shortly, probably at some point during this summer.

To my friends in Ecuador and the others who will be flying back into the States shortly, know that y'all are on my heart every day and that I had my best semester by far because of you.

Don't be dismayed by goodbyes.  A farewell is necessary before you can meet again.  And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.

-Richard Bach