correspondence

Thank you for the beautiful email! I'm glad I'll be able to hear news from Argentina. The long emails I wrote from Kenya were such a joy to read-over when I got back, I'm sure you'll feel the same once you get back to the US. How does your experience in Buenos Aires compare to your experience in Mexico? How does the group differ? I can't believe there are 150 students, that's a lot! Well, I suppose it's normal compared to the small SIT trips of 15-20 students. I'm not surprised you got American culture shock from just being around American college kids, we bring our culture where ever we go and often as a defense mechanism in the face of the unfamiliar. Reading your email made me want to pack my bags and join you! I've never been to Argentina or any South American country for that matter. Based on my very limited knowledge of Argentina it's a very unique place compared to other countries in the area. I've heard people say it's an interesting mix of European and South American and the European influence is very strong. I believe you talked about that in your letter. How do the Agentinian students compare to the American? Would you say students there are more politically and socially active than students at our school? Any thoughts why? I wonder if you'll have time to answer all my questions, I have a tendency to ask too many questions.

Everything here is alright. It's Spring Break right now and I'm at home. I had mouth surgery on Friday (nothing serious) and I'm completely dopped up on pain killers. I'm also on a liquid only diet which is a bit odd and the lazing about is driving me insane. After an entire day in front of the telly watching "Upstairs-Downstairs" (Brit period drama set in turn of the century London) I had to get up and do something. I know we only saw each other a bit when you visited (how was that stay by the way?), hopefully we'll have more time to catch up next semester. I'd love to exchange travel stories.

It doesn't feel quite right being wrapped up in my own bubble here in the US. When I got back from Kenya I had many fine ideals about going back, doing this and that, helping more, being more "aware", etc. Somehow it's all faded away. All I think about now is class, the magazine I work for, my future. There are moments of terrible guilt when I see how selfish I'm being, I should be focusing my energy on helping others and not just myself. I'm not sure where those moments will take me. I do need to make more of an effort to change my community for the better. It's also been difficult realizing how quickly my relationships in Kenya are fading. Homestay family members who are very hard to keep in touch with, friends who I promised letters to - again I feel guilty for focusing my energies on the friends at school. I suppose being on break will help, I can finally write the letters and make the phone calls I've been meaning to. Do you keep in contact with the people you met in Mexico?

I'm going to have to cut this short, I need to take another pain pill and not do anything. This mouth situation is not conducive to thinking or writing. Best of luck and I hope to hear from you soon!