| just some thoughtsSo I've been meaning to actually make some time to write about leaving San Diego, my trip to Peru, summer school, and everything else that I've been up to since I left San Francisco two years ago. Now is the perfect time. I'm awake, at Kate's place (she's sleeping), and I dont want to go home or sleep. There seems to be nothing better to do than write. So I guess we'll start with two years ago. I know, it's been a far-reach in time, but that is when I feel like starting. Two years ago, I left San Francisco after graduation. It was a sudden move. I fell into a depression because I realized I had completely failed in high school. After graduation, I just felt like I'd done nothing in those four years and that I had wasted those years with nothing to show for it -- nothing except for wrestling, which ended when I graduated. So I was depressed because I had nothing going for me: no goals; nothing. I leave that summer for San Diego. Two years pass. Goal accomplished: I come back into the Bay, after being admitted into UCLA. Well, I dont really know what Im writing about here. Guess I just want to clear my head a little. I hate keeping things all bottled up inside. It's not healthy. Anyway, so I start the summer with three goals in mind: learn to play soccer, review/practice Spanish, and learn to ride a bike. So far, I've done the first two (thanks to summer classes at CCSF), but I have yet to start on the third. That will have to wait until I visit my sister in New York. So I took two weeks off from summer school to go to Peru with my sister. I have to say that it was one of my best experiences so far. I'm sure there will be more experiences like this, but this one will always be special. It will always be one of the First's. It exposed me to real poverty. I still remember so much of the poverty of the Quechuan people in the Andes and the urban poor of Lima. That trip really just touched a part of my soul, my humanity. I thought it was completely despicable that some of the other travelers from our group haggled over a few soles. Really, what's a few soles to a well-off American, Australian, Canadian, or English. And why be so tight with the tips? And really, what's a dollar for us? It's nothing. But these people NEED it. A dollar means pretty much one day's work for them. It can buy quite a bit of food. Oh, but who am I to judge?! I havent worked all my life to earn a couple dollars. The money I spend comes from my parents. Maybe I just dont understand the value of money.... But dont I?! Maybe I do understand, but I also see that money isnt everything, that sometimes generosity is necessary. SIGH, me and my socialist ideals. Anyway, I just feel like a different person after that trip. Well worth the money. The culture shock, the experience of it all is exactly what I love about traveling. See, the way I see it, there's a difference between traveling and vacationing. Vacationing is enjoying yourself on beaches or clubbing or whatever; traveling is experiencing the culture and the people; it is getting rough and dirty and intimate with your surroundings; it is adapting; and, most of all, it is learning. I love it. I love traveling. And I think, at this point, I officially consider myself somewhat of a traveler -- an amateur traveler, if you will. I still fall for most of the tourist traps, lol, like too much shopping, too much museums, souvenirs, pictures, etc. I hope one day that I will be those kind of travelers who are there for the geography, for the people, for the culture, the food, everything. I dont want to always be shopping for trinkets to bring home. No. One day, I will come home from wherever and not have any souvenirs, very few photographs, and very many mental pictures. That will be the day when I realize I've become a true traveler. |
