I am finally in Austin. I was incredibly lucky that my parents came to San Diego to do a business trip and picked me up to go home together. I have so much to tell my family and friends, but first I’m grateful for some days to return to normalcy. I think the hardest part of getting back to real life is not gonna be the change of pace, or the weather– it’s going to the fact that everything will look the same as it was, but I will be different. I will process life differently now because I see that I am small. My life is trivial, but my actions are imperative.
I had wanted to do the Spring semester trip that goes to Asia because I thought that was more foreign to me and that going far was important for me to learn. I thought I’d already new about this side of the world because this is where I’m from…
I realize now that I underestimated how important the mediterranean still is to modern society. This is still after so many centuries, the most important area for modern immigration. The Atlantic ocean has been the stage for the most important movements in history, and I need to understand it because that’s the world I inhabit.
I still think we are entering the century of the Pacific ocean, but the past needs to be understood before we can proceed into the future.
I count myself lucky to have taken this trip as part of my college education. I appreciate my place in the world as a person first and as an artist second. There is so much more traveling I want to do and the greatest thing is that I have no excuse to fear! So hell yeah, I’m backpacking it out as soon as I get the chance.
Thank you to my friends and family back home. Thank you to my friends on this trip who became my family. Thank you to all the people I met in every port, whose eyes lit up when I explained my journey and wished me luck on my way.
I’m so immensely happy.
—Aline.
