Ya, you betcha I love my hot-dish producing tropical Minnesooota, dontcha know?
The things that came to mind in the first few days back:
1.) Workout culture. I joined a gym. IT FEELS SO GOOD. The US is a bit obsessed with working out, but after being in a country where people will tell you to take the bus instead of walking 2 blocks, it's refreshing. Almost every kid is part of a sport here (maybe it's just a reflection of the extreme competitiveness of our culture). Almost all of my muscles are sore; is it sick to say that I'm not sore enough?
The things that came to mind in the first few days back:
1.) Workout culture. I joined a gym. IT FEELS SO GOOD. The US is a bit obsessed with working out, but after being in a country where people will tell you to take the bus instead of walking 2 blocks, it's refreshing. Almost every kid is part of a sport here (maybe it's just a reflection of the extreme competitiveness of our culture). Almost all of my muscles are sore; is it sick to say that I'm not sore enough?
2.) Minnesota Nice. I love being able to walk down the street and smile at people, strike up random conversations with the man helping me renew my license, and in general walk around and look people in the eye without feeling weird. Chileans are very nice people, once you poke a little and get to know them. It's a relief knowing I don't have to instigate all the time.
3.) Minnesota Snow. When we were about to land, I was almost overcome with emotion because I was so happy to see the snow draping over pine tree branches and wide expanses of ice from lakes and snowplows getting the snow off the airport runway. Hearing the snow crunch beneath my boots, throwing snowballs, eating snow, feeling the snowflakes melt on my face and rest on my eyelashes, and being so bundled up I can barely move is HOME.
4.) Diversity. Chile didn't have as much racial or religious diversity as I had hoped. Granted, I'm so used to my high school/college communities that make an effort to increase diversity. In Chile, I maybe saw one or two people of "color" on my metro ride a month, one gay couple boldly holding hands and one religious institution that wasn't Christian. I appreciate the "melting pot" of the US more and more. One place I see diversity in its fullest is in my church community. I went to church for the first time in months, and felt so much love for the community that prides itself in its diversity and progressive values of inclusion, open-mindedness, and pure love for the stranger and less fortunate. We are in a building that houses three different denominations, and it's such a cool feeling knowing that even though we have different names for our belief systems, we still have the same foundations and the same purpose.
5.) Education. I went to elementary, junior, and high school for free. And the education was astounding: I had the opportunity to take AP and IB classes for free; allowing me to learn how to write and communicate my ideas. I understand that I was still extremely lucky and privileged with my situation, being a white girl in the suburbs with a supportive family and resources at my disposal. At least the colleges I applied to looked at more than just the ACT score I got. In Chile, the only way to get into respected colleges is to get a good score on the PSU exam at the end of high school. No essays, no extracurriculars, no recommendation letters, no opportunity to tell your story.