GETTING OUTTA HEEEE-AHHH October 22, 2008
I got to get out of Santiago and nothing makes me more stressed out than the feeling of being stuck.
I finally made up my mind about the departure date so I am getting out of here at the end of next February at latest,
regardless of how much money I will have saved by then.
In fact,
I’m shortening the whole trip in general;
I will be moving to London next year,
before I turn 24(in year 2010) because I’m dying to start my actual career and fully utilize my skills and knowledge on a more challenging job.
I’ll probably go as far north as Colombia before returning(briefly) to the States sometime next year.
Right now, my tourist visa has expired(in mid-Sep) and I’m waiting for my work visa to come through so I can LEAVE Chile for a few days and cross the border to Mendoza Argentina.
I miss Argentina sooo much(especially Buenos Aires) that once I get the stamp, I’m out of here(for a few days at least)
speaking of passport-y stuff,
I just started to watch Sarah Palin interview with Katie Couric(I know I’m behind) and apparently, Palin didn’t have a passport until last year(!) and in her reponse, Palin made it sound like she comes from this humble background where she wasn’t handed trust fund to go travel upon her graduation.
what a load of bullocks.
I read(urban myth perhaps?) that many Americans don’t ever go abroad so many of them never bother obtaining a passport. I had a “different” experience growing up where I spent most of my childhood abroad so I always have had a passport since I was about a month old or so. I remember my mother taking me to the U.S. embassy every several years to get my passport renewed and the whole ordeal seemed very exciting.
My parents were never rich,
in fact,
despite my strangely bourgeois-esque upbringing,
I was raised on a proletariat-income most of my life.
Strange, I know.
Is it possible?
the better way to describe it is that my parents have had high social status(hence lots of freebies + connections) and are highly educated people who valued academic/cultural/religious education so they were never stingy for learning.
The only thing that was possibly compromised was the international experience(well besides visiting the U.S. once in a while) but luckily, I have been fulfilling that wish since 2006 when I received a lot of grants/scholarships to study abroad, which was possible due to my parents’ low income(I think they are within the working class parameter) + my magnificently titillating essays (haha), which have enabled me to get the real-life cultural experiences(despite of how much I complain of my boredom at the present state).
my point here, aka calling bs on Sarah Palin’s argument, is that not all of us are born with a silver spoon(just Karaoke mikes, in Korean descendents’ case) Plenty of people make sacrifices to save up money to travel: you eat less fancy meals, you buy less, you spend less, you pinch as many pennies as you can and even then,
it’s not like you are on a luxurious “holiday/vacation” where you have people chauffeur you around in a town-car, visiting all the touristic landmarks.
No.
A lot of people travel,
enduring through challenging situations of difficulty and discomfort because many are enamored with the experience.
so Ms. Palin,
please do not bs with your holier-than-thou story. There are people who work just as hard and manage to travel without help from their parents. Just own up to the fact that you weren’t interested in traveling abroad, there is nothing wrong with that.
on totally unrelated news,
the burn that I have had for almost 2 months is ALMOST cured but now, my entire body is covered with eczema-esque(perhaps it is, I’m not an expert) hives with ungodly itchness as the result of an allergic reaction to the antibiotics I took.
I just bought another set of pills(great), and off white flour(permanently-extra crankiness ensured) and dairy products(probably semi-permanently), trying to ignore “helpful suggestions” from friends here in Chile such as rubbing banana peel(don’t work), scrubbing the hives with “soft haired brush”(I found the person rubbing alcohol on her chest because someone at her work told her that it was good for allergy-related respiratory program so NO) and urine therapy(not that desperate)
Every summer I’m covered in huge inflamed mosquito/insect bites(I’m highly allergic) but whoa, this is another level of itchness. I think I see both heaven and hell in an ecstatic moment of scratching.
dream October 12, 2008
my arm looks horrible.
the burn I inflicted on myself about a month ago has yet to heal,
having worsened with a mysterious insect bite(I’m highly allergic to insect bites)
and it looks “superfeo.”
it looks like it’s filled with puss but it’s hard at the same time,
so it looks like a bubbly mushroom growing underskin.
and I paid ungodly amount of money for a consultation with a suspiciously qualified doctor (exhibit A: trying to squeeze out oozing puss from the scar with his bare hands; exhibit B: using a gas stove as a makeshift medical tray)
who did things my dad told me not to do(I trust my dad as a doctor more than any other doctors)
and medicine that seemed too empty for its jar.
I might post a picture of it to horrify your innocent eyes.
it must have thrown me into the current subconsciously stressful situation as I had a dreadful nightmare for the first time in about a month or so.
I was prescribed antibiotics and antihistamine and while the former is burning my esophagus (and I insist on eating further acid-inducing white flour products such as cookies and pasta) the latter is making me very drowsy.
University, necessary? October 9, 2008
It may seem hypocritical of me to write this, as I have already earned a BBA,
but there was a time when I wished to drop out or perhaps take a year off to travel around,
get real life experience, and learn things that way.
That never happened.
Instead, I finished school in 3 years.
Fortunately I’ve done many things I wished for,
and I feel like I’ve lived 3 different lives in my 22 years of existence,
and while I don’t feel I’ve “wasted” my time attending traditional classes,
sometimes I wonder,
if it was really indeed,
necessary,
if there was no alternative that I could have chosen.
For many Americans like myself,
pursuing an undergraduate degree is no longer considered an oddity,
in fact,
it’s becoming more and more obligatory.
Is the orthodox 4 year undergraduate program necessary for the path we’ll take in “real life?”
Personally,
The question of whether to attend an university or not was out of discussion (with my parents at least);
All my grandparents had B.A.s, my maternal grandparents attended schools in Japan,
both my parents have postgraduate degrees,
so settling on High School diploma alone was out of question.
It was expected for me to get an undergraduate’s(and postgraduate) degree for sure.
Dream?
Want to do this and that?
oh you can do it after you graduate from university.
I was persuaded to choose my 2nd choice as my major,
first one being, “unprofitable,”
and I stayed put.
As I mentioned above,
I was fortunate enough to go abroad while earning my degree,
and studied and lived in Spain and Korea through my school.
Now that I’m traveling extensively,
I’ve met many Europeans who are taking a year off(especially Brits) from their University or after graduating from High School,
getting life experience through traveling.
On contrary,
I’ve only met one American girl who is taking an unorthodox approach to “higher education,”
traveling and volunteering instead of slaving herself away at desk for hours to write a thesis about ethical behavior.
The path is different for everyone,
and while I think it was necessary for me to attend traditional school (via way of unorthodox studying/traveling abroad opportunities) in order to follow the career path I have chosen,
I sometimes wonder,
if it would have been necessary;
had I chosen a different alternative, different from the 4 year-education,
would I be working unsatisfying dead-end jobs my entire life?
or would have I walked away with something of different value?
