Now, the first two weeks in Santiago has been nothing short of amazing. Making awesome new friends, going out with awesome new friends, exploring the city at 2 am with awesome new friends, the list goes on.

Before departing on my year long stay in Vienna, I have millions of thoughts flitting in and out of the subconscious of my everyday. The troubling thing however, is that until quite recently none of these thoughts had any real connection to going abroad. It wasn’t until about a week ago, that the wet blanket of realization wrapped itself around my sunburnt shoulders, and two words rang loudly in space between my ears, shaking me to my core, “I’m leaving”. The implication of these simple words brought a handful of anxieties with them.

I’ve had a difficult time beginning this post.  Coming home for the first time in a year, the adjustment back isn’t exactly black and white.  Maybe I’m a little in denial, because honestly, being home feels like vacation, another weekend trip, and any moment now I’ll be on a plane or a bus back to Santiago. Perhaps the “return shock” will hit me once I move back to my home university.

            ¿Cómo te va? My name is Julian Garcia. I am from San Antonio, Texas and am currently attending Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. I am wrapping up my time there, as I will be a senior this year. As I write this, I am waiting for a flight back home outside of Dar es Salaam’s Julius Nyerere International Airport. I have been in Tanzania for two months now working as an intern with the Diocese of Central Tanganyika (DCT). The internship was in Dodoma, Tanzania’s national capital city.

This past weekend I visited the Great Barrier Reef in Cairns, Queensland. So far this was my first weekend trip in Australia and definitely one I will never forget. My brother and his friend were also visiting Australia so they tagged along with myself and my two best friends from home.

Once, when I was very little, my best friend in the whole wide world of fourth grade bragged to me that her Chinese heritage extended as far back as the Song dynasty

            “I’m descended from the Empress Cixi,” she said proudly, her head aloft.

            “Holy crap,” I thought.

According to a countdown on Google, there are 19 days, 4 hours, 49 minutes and 5 seconds until I begin my journey to the land of pizza, pasta and gelato, otherwise known as Italy. Earlier I had considered packing my suitcase, but then remembered that I still need my clothes and other belongings, and still have a while to go until August 28th. Needless to say, I am beyond excited to study abroad in Siena, Italy. My infatuation with Italy began summer going into my freshman year at Sewanee.