With less than two weeks to go till our departure, it is natural to be feeling a bit apprehensive. We are about to head off to a place and an experience that to most of us is completely alien, forcing us to question our most basic assumptions about life and the way the world works. It is therefore not surprising to feel, what? Scared, exhilarated, nauseous, edgy, confused. Your confusion may manifest as anxiety - a dread about what the future might hold - or as excitement, a positive anticipation that is in many ways anxiety's flip side. Both emotions are about uncertainty in the face of change, a sense of possibility that may be wonderful or terrible. I alternate between these feelings myself, though maintaining an overall positive view of the prospects ahead.What are you feeling right now? Program alumni, what do you remember feeling two weeks pre-departure? Post a comment to this blog and share it with the rest of us.
2 comments:
I was definitely really excited, but also fairly nervous. I remember being anxious about the smallest things, like whether I was going to have problems with my contact lenses, the food, showers, or the altitude. As shallow as it sounds, I was also nervous about spending so much time in a developing country and very nervous about living with a family. Once I read the syllabus, my nerves amplified. I was very anxious about the various assignments and wasn't sure that I would be able to get enough courage to talk to people.
After a few days though, everything fell into place. I got used to the food, the home, the family, and if there were ever any problems there was always someone willing to help me out. The assignments end up being a lot of fun, even if they are sometimes awkward, and at the end of the day I ended up learning a lot about myself, challenging myself, and adapting to life in Bolivia, and it was not nearly as "nerve-wracking" as I had expected the experience to be.
As somebody who did this sort of trip years ago, I'll just say that I'm extremely envidiosa. (What's the word in Quechua?)
M.O.
Post a Comment