November.

I can't believe that it's November already. I've been in Venezuela for 11 weeks now and I have 4 weeks to go. Since I decided that writing is some sort of "reflective therapy" for me, it's about time that I start looking at the big picture and reflecting on my experience here in Venezuela as a whole.

I came here knowing nobody. I sat in the airport with a steaming vanilla latte in my hand, read Julie and Julia and looking up from my book every three seconds to see if the person sitting down next to me could be someone from my program. I searched for college students with lots of luggage, but no one came for a long time. Just as I was starting to panick, I saw a girl my age walking towards the gate. She was balancing tons of luggage and looked exhausted like she had been up all night packing; prime candidate. After several minutes of analyzing each other's luggage and pondering possible flight destinations, we both smiled. I asked where she was headed and she said exactly what I wanted to hear - "Venezuela".

And that's how I started meeting some of the people who would have a huge impact on the quality of my experience here in Venezuela. From that moment on, had a traveling partner - someone just as clueless about what we were in for as I was. All I knew when I applied for this program and wrote my scholarship essay was that I wanted to live in another country, escape the familiarity and comfort of Minneapolis, practice a foreign language, and meet new people. So after meeting Andrea in the airport, I was finally on my way to achieving my goals.

The second person I met was Jenni. I got onto the plane and saw her sitting in a window seat a few rows ahead of me. I recognized her from her Facebook photo and introduced myself as her roommate. She recognized me too, but it wasn't until we arrived in Miami that I really started getting to know Jenni. We stuck together from the time we stepped off the plane. We were in different hotel rooms, but decided to leave the hotel and take a taxi to Miami's South Beach to see the ocean. As soon as we were standing there amongst the crashing waves and jellyfish, rambling on about how excited we were for the semester ahead of us, I knew we'd get along.

And the rest is history (well not history, but it would make for a novel-length blog post). Jenni and I have continued to get along and have become close friends in addition to being roommates. I guess that means I accomplished my goal of meeting new people. As far as my other goals: I have lived in and explored a foreign country, battled against my desire for the familiarity and comfort of Minneapolis, and practiced a foreign language day in and day out, at school and at home.

Venezuela has been incredible, and anything else I gain from this experience is just icing on the cake!

4 weeks left of this adventure to put icing on the cake. That, I can do.