This is an e-mail home to my parents... I thought it described well my feelings at the moment.
Hey there!
Studying abroad is expensive. I really miss being able to have a kitchen to run back to and time to cook myself. I also miss technology, it seems impossible to find a computer with enough power to upload a video or a mass of pictures for that matter. This computer won´t even open up the blogger site. I really miss Bethany and my friends, the people here are definitely not who I would regularly hang out with. There are a couple of really authentically nice people and many interesting people, but I have found mostly otherwise people. I need to stop spending money (because that´s easy) and lighten up. It´s beginning to be a little depressing to be here, but hopefully something interesting will come up. Real classes, for example, will be starting next week so maybe that will go well. It´s just so expensive to rustle up food on excursions and while on your own. I guess I´m used to a consistent income from ORL, but I need to think about that more. And I know what you´re going to say, yes it´s hard and you shouldn´t be using it so much for snacks and you paid for meals at your house so eat then and don´t do things if you know you can´t afford them. I know all that, but meals come only twice a day wide apart and other than that I´m away from home and I in hindsight poorly decided to take the €150 trip to Lisbon which was very expensive and difficult because of people, poor planning (or simply a lack thereof) and me just not knowing anything about the place (honestly I did see lots of really cool things and had sweet experiences, there was just too much otherwise to ruin it). I also had to pay the €100 ransom for my cell phone which will be returned to me once I give it back at the end of the semester. Then of course there´s the food and hostel payments for London and Paris (so worth it, I want to go back to Paris) and little souveneirs along the way. I have been sparing with my souvenirs, leaving it to postcards, little bottles of local sorts, specialty snacks and I got this sweet old map of the world with ornate drawings and stuff on it at the Marine museum of Lisbon. That was a good day when I got that. But I´m just tired of the clicky nature of this group and how all people do is work to be popular and party, and how few seem to care about the culture and really learning and using what we´re taught. I do appreciate how lovely and motherly my madre is, she always cooks delicious things and listens and is helpful about anything she can be... when I can understand her. I don´t know... it´s a unique, interesting and priveleged experience of a lifetime to be able to study abroad and visit so many international places. But I feel broke, alone and lost in translation.
Hope all is well at home.
Love,
Kip
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4 comments:
quit your bitching kip. i am sick of hearing you complain about how much you despise your classmates. go make some spanish friends and you'll feel better. but i can say it does suck to spend so much money- because for the most part, you have never had to pay for everything like this before. looks like someone's growing up!!!!! ps wheres my postcard?
Kip - don't miss the donut naranja because you're staring at the hole! I would trade places with you in a second. When you're old and decrepit like me, you might not get the chance to do what you're doing. Enjoy it while you can!
Love,
Your Other Mother
how was portugal?
Aw, yeah, I understand how hard it can be to be "alone" over there with not a lot of people who are similar to you in tastes and other such things. When I went to Alaska with my aunt (granted, she is family, so it's a little different) it was weird hanging out with her friends and co-workers and such, because there was such a generation gap. I hope everything else is going well :D And whoah....why did you have to pay a ransom for your phone?!!
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