That's Life. Una experiencia inolvidable.

 

              Damn, this week has been interesting. It’s weird seeing that we are going to be leaving this country and not coming back for who knows how long. All the time spent here among friends, in local pubs and bars, in the gym, at Ali’s, at Theo’s will be a memory told to our kids. Amazing how fast 4 months rushed by, and I can say with happiness that a lot of things have changed in my life. For one, I became more cultured. Which is very weird to say but a big possibility considering the number of countries we visited and the number of people we interacted with during those excursions. It is something that I was expecting but not necessarily counting on changing me as much as I think it did. Was it so big a change that I would change my name to Patricius? No. But, it definitely got me thinking of the possibility of moving out here to Europe and doing vet school somewhere in the area which I had thought about before but not to this degree. In another aspect, I also got an appreciation for the languages spoken in Europe and the importance of language in communication and cultural appreciation. It is not an essential for traveling Europe but it is something that is essential in truly appreciating a culture. The way people speak and communicate with each other and describe things is something that can only be seen or heard when that language is being spoken and it is beautiful when you understand it.

              On another aspect, I grew as a person by cultivating relationships with people in my program and strangers in other countries like the man in Lyon who sat us down in a bouchon. Something that I learned is that with every relationship there are different pieces moving, almost like a chess game. Not every move may make sense at the time, but as the game, time, progresses you begin to realize the importance of that once useless moving pawn. This “game” occurs in every relationship you create and every relationship you are currently cultivating. Sometimes, you win those games and sometimes you lose. I grew in accepting to lose some games, which before, I would have killed myself in an attempt to save the game and in that pursuit, destroying myself. Thankfully, these experiences here in Germany have helped me mold how I see relationships for good and bad and it is something that although painful at times, I would never trade for anything. On the good side, I have made some great friends over here and I am glad that I now have some friends that share experiences like mine. I will of course hang out with them back in CSTAT and continue our bar drinking every now and then, nothing compared to how it was here. My liver needs a serious detox after this experience.

              The experiences I’ve had over here ranging from my first Bundesliga game, first cigar, first time drinking beer in Germany, asking a girl out, eating the best French food I’ve had (apart from my grandmothers), ordering maseca and a tortilla press to make Mexican food here, getting stuck in random cities because of the DB, late night talks with my host mom, late nights at Barleycorn playing darts and others have been the highlight of this trip. Nothing stands out more than the other and they are all things that I will cherish till the day I die. I was lucky to have the opportunity to come out here and experience these things and nonetheless with friends who both humbled me, picked me up, and hyped me up when I needed it. With each day that we have been here, I’ve made new memories and created new friendships that at the beginning of the trip, I did not expect to have leading me to leave with more friends than I began with, something that I am eternally grateful for.

              At the end of the day, all I can say is that I am very happy with the things I have learned on this study abroad. I did not think that what Dr. Wasser said in the beginning of the trip would be true as I felt that it was something every professor would say during a study abroad, but I’ll be damned, he was right, I did grow a lot as a person. And as time goes by, I hope to maintain and even repair some relationships from my time over here. Thank y’all for this amazing opportunity and for putting up with us the entire trip, it was a hell of an experience. Hopefully, we will stay in contact with each other.