This semester has been one of the most emotional times of my life because I'm constantly coming and going. And this week has been all about the coming and going. I'm leaving Chile 2 weeks from tomorrow. I'm so excited to be going home for the summer but of course, there's a part of me that feels tied up in Chile now.
I started the week in Arica, ready to finish up my field work. On Monday, I led a focus group of pregnant adolescents and went to a sex ed class, both of which were incredible and not at all what I was expecting. I may write more about that day later, but honestly, a week has not been enough to process all of it, not by a long shot.
On Wednesday, I had to show my research advisor, who I respect a lot, the progress I had made on my paper. I was super nervous to show her my 11 jumbled pages because I knew she was going to give me that mentor-look, the one that says: "Really? You can do better." What I wasn't expecting was for her to tell me that I should fix it and show it to her anew in 4 hours. It was a rough last day in Arica, but at the end of it, she was happy with my progress, as was I.
Thursday morning I got on a plane for Santiago, where I spent the weekend with my friend Jill who is studying the effect of machismo on gender performance amongst the urban lesbian population. (Where do I find these people?) We spent all weekend partying with a large group of Chilean lesbians. We meant to do other things, but never quite got around to any of them. No regrets.
Today, I got back to Valparaiso and was reunited with my host family here. I haven't seen them in weeks and wanted to tell them everything, which I did. I wouldn't stop talking for almost forever. They didn't seem to mind, though. I've come along way from the girl who was barely confident to enter a store for the thought of having to speak to someone in Spanish.
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