During the summer before my senior year of high school, I was lucky enough to be a part of a student exchange program in Argentina. Being able to travel abroad at such a young age absolutely changed my life and I am convinced that I wouldn’t be the person I am today without spending time in Argentina. Going abroad changes your perspective on life; it opens your eyes and mind to what else the world has to offer. The people I met in Argentina taught me so much about my own faith and what I thought of the world. During my time in college, I will definitely be going abroad.
I though it would be interesting to share a post from my personal blog that I wrote while in Argentina to give you a first-hand glimpse of what it is like being abroad and living in a new country:
Life here (Buenos Aires, Argentina) is just different. All of the students that are a part of the exchange program have been stripped of almost everything they have ever known in order to improve themselves in another language and their own life, in order to see, understand, and experience the beautiful simplicity of this country. There is such a difference between the fast paced world of the United States and the methodical easiness of Argentina. Besides learning Spanish a major part of this program is Pastoral, which is community service. I have never in my life been so excited to go out and serve, because I have never witnessed or been around the type of people and community that we are going to serve.
In order to set our minds right for service, our coordinator in Argentina took us to a meeting with the group leaders of Pastoral, where we all had a small prayer service. During this service, we chose two words that represented service in our life. The words I chose were Ezperanza y Vida (Hope and Life). At that moment in time, those two words spoke volumes to me about what my service experience should be like. I never really knew why I chose those words until Wednesday morning.
The coordinator from my school and her husband have been with us during our first week to help us become accustomed to living in Argentina. It has helped so much, having two incredible people that we can talk to at all times. I have always looked up to this teacher for all the amazing life lesson she had taught me, and I have never met a more compassionate and godly woman, or couple! On Wednesday, we had a breakfast with the school principals to talk about how our experience has been so far. It wasn’t until I heard the passion in her husband’s voice about his experience in Buenos Aires that I finally understand why I had chosen hope and life.
Colegio Santa Ethnea is the school we are attending, and the families from this school are more than incredible. I have never seen such and amazing family atmosphere that is always light and happy. Unfortunately, not all of Argentina is like that. Once you step outside these families and Colegio Santa Ethnea, it can be a crazy world. We attend pastoral with our brothers and sisters, and with this service, we are able to provide those people hope and life through our actions. Hope to change their life around, hope to see all the good in people and work for their goals. Service has always been important in my life, but I have never been so invested in serving everyone until this week, when I finally understood what I want to continually get out of service.
Without hope, people have nothing. And to be able to install that into a person’s heart can be absolutely life-changing. It can be life-changing for them, but also for the person that is doing the serving. There’s nothing greater than to turn someone’s life around and show him or her the good in the world. So I challenge everyone reading this to find out the things you want to get out of service. With a purpose, everything can become more efficient. Serving is a two-way street; when you help a person see light, they somehow manage to open your eyes and show you more things about yourself than anyone else ever could.
I had forgotten that I wrote this post until about an hour ago, when I was going through and reading my old blog. We are called to shine our light. I hope that seeing what being abroad was like as a 16-year-old kid who didn’t even know what college she wanted to go to helps you understand and helps you to see the bigger picture.
There is so much more to this world than the small space that we feel so confined to all the time. It is challenging, but so worth it to get outside your comfort zone and go see the world on a bigger scale.
