Homesick

I totally forgot to write yesterday. Nothing really exciting happened. I had studio, then worked on my project with my group for most of the afternoon. Then I came back, cooked dinner, watched some cartoons on the laptop, and went to bed.

Okay, I take it back. One thing new and interesting happened yesterday. I ate at this place near our school called Food Ball. We pass it at least once a day and it’s always intrigued everyone, but I tried it for lunch yesterday. It’s a ball of food. Weird to look at when passing by, but I took a chance. I ordered the chicken one and went and sat down. Awaiting my stomach was a brown, herb covered sphere. I asked for utensils, but they said you eat it with your hands. So I picked it up and took a bite. Sure enough, there was chicken inside...and rice. It wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was pretty tasty. The only downside was that it was about the size of a tennis ball, so it wasn’t the most filling of meals. But it was good. Weird, but good.


Today, we had Spanish for 4 hours starting at 9am, which was oh so fun. We were supposed to have our first day of Seminar class at 1, but it got rescheduled until tomorrow. Spanish was good though. Re-learned some more stuff from high school spanish, but it’s sinking in a lot better now.

Even though we didn’t have class, we all had a lot of work to do on our projects. And it envolved all of us printing from one printer. 13 of us sharing one printer that’s connected to one of two computers that’s available for about 60 students is very difficult. We had a lot of trouble defining what was ours to the other groups. The printer had been purchased by Aggies from the previous semester and we had already chipped in and bought ink for it...so we weren’t going to just let the whole world use it. We were able to set up a wireless printing network so that people with laptops could print to that printer and we wouldn’t have to hog the 2 desktop computers. It was crazy. But after a while, it ended up being just A&M in the room for most of the day because the other schools had class. The cartridge lasted until around 6:30pm...right in the middle of what I was printing (the second half of my project). Someone collected more money and set out to go get another cartridge. I packed up and came back to the apartment because I knew that it was only going to get busier in that room. I stopped at SuperSol and picked up some more pasta sauce, some milk, and more mandarin oranges (I love those things!) and now I’m waiting for the stove to heat up. I’m going to get to class early tomorrow to print out the rest of my stuff. It’s not much, so it’s all good.

As for tonight, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to hit the sack “early,” but we’ll see. My back really hurts, so that’s what’s determining if I go out or not. I want to go out and meet some new people because it’s getting hard to just stay within the A&M group.

Speaking of, I got homesick for the first time today. I mean, I miss home and everyone, but it was the first time that I actually wanted to not be so far away...just for at least a moment. I got an email from my dad and he was asking me some questions about different things. Two of which involve calling Apple and FedEx, and the other is a computer issue. It was just so frusterating that I couldn’t just pick up the phone and make those calls...because if I did, it would cost a lot. And the computer stuff, I just wish that I could have been at home and helped him with it personally. I guess it was just the first time that I realized how FAR away I am...and how long I’m going to be here. I had a dream two nights ago that I was back from studying abroad and when I woke up I was like “oh my gosh, I still have over 3 months left!”

I guess this is where self growth comes in. I mean once I got here, there was the time to get adjusted...and then we kept going out and visiting different areas of the city after class... And now that it’s become “normal,” other feelings that have been suppressed are surfacing. It’s not to the point where “I wanna go home” because 1) I can’t, and 2) what would that really solve? That would only go to show that I can’t make it on my own away from what is familiar...that I don’t have what it takes to survive. That’s not me. I wasn’t raised to be that way. I mean, I was raised to cherish my family and friends, and I do with all of me...it’s just that I have been given this opportunity to learn...to grow up...to experience a different way of living. And that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve learned so much already...and it hasn’t even been two weeks yet!

So, I am off to cook and eat and sleep and wake up tomorrow refreshed and anew.