Livin' La Vida Loca

Sub-2 weeks to go until I’m on an airplane across the ocean!  It’s probably time to cool it on the episodes of Lost I’ve been watching with my roommate, not to mention that these are keeping me from my old Spanish notes that I’m sure would make me feel much more comfortable if I’d been reviewing them.  And it’s definitely too early for my style of packing.

It’s been kind of a crazy summer in, unfortunately for you all, an inexplicable way.  Roaming the steam tunnels under Ohio State, belting out my favorite boy band songs—as a weekly regular, might I add—at Karaoke Night, scaling rooftops, throwing myself around Columbus’s trampoline park, racing from the tips of roller coasters, making a first attempt at water skiing… these are just words for the blur the summer has been.  I’m hoping to conclude it with skydiving; it’s not enough just to write in my last post about my experience from freshman year!

If any of that says anything about my mindset this summer, here’s more: one of my best friends from Running Club was telling me about a study one of his psychology classes was looking at, about decision-making in different age groups.  The groups of people in the study who were the most spontaneous and least forward-thinking?  I could have guessed college students, or even senior college students since they/we are notorious risk-takers.   But the answer is more specific—those students who were about to leave the country to study abroad. 

“That sounds exactly right” is what my response to him was.  Maybe I’m an adrenaline junkie after all.  Or maybe just a temporary one.  As this friend put it, I’m “essentially about to ditch all my friends back home”, so it does make sense that I’d need to prove I can have my own personal fun.

Yesterday I got my final “pre-departure checklist” from my program reminding me to be patient and flexible as I delve into a new culture, as well as careful and prepared as I groom second-language Spanish skills that have been dormant for several months.  Maybe that’s something else to explain why students about to embark on a study abroad adventure are incredibly impulsive/borderline reckless.  I’ve been mentally preparing for this patience, open-mindedness and caution since I submitted my study abroad application.  But as I rounded the corner before the final stretch at the beginning of the summer, my sprint to the finish line—or more appropriately, the start line—became my last run in comfortable shoes.  “Remember that you are the visitor and need to adapt to the local rhythm and customs, not vice versa.” 

So I had a whole summer to do what I wanted when I wanted to do it; in two weeks I hope I’m ready to conform to someone else’s values.

Nonetheless, the accuracy of this psychology finding does not credit the other people who were involved in making this summer the most fun of my college career.  Despite the fact that yes, I can survive on my own in a spontaneous world and yes, even after four months without my friends and family they will all still be here when I return, as I will be for them… despite all that, I owe a shout-out (and perhaps an apology since they’ve had to put up with my locura this summer) to all those I’ll miss more than anything these next four months.  Whether it’s “just four months” with a dismissing wave of the hand or “a whole four months” exasperated emphasis on the whole, I’ll see you when I get back.