Cuba: The Return

I'll have to quote Courtney's facebook status to describe how I feel: I am culture-shocked out of my freakin' mind. You can't imagine how it feels to go, in one hour, from communist Cuba with hardly any advertising, to Miami, with fast food joints and screamingly bright posters on every wall. The consumerism in the United States just smacks you in the face and you can't avoid it.

All in all, it's been a very hard transition. I made a life for myself there, friends, boyfriend, and more or less a second family, and now I don't know when I'll see them again. But out of this all comes the most important lesson for me. It's based on this Cuban phrase which, translated to English, roughly means "We only have one life, and you have to LIVE it". I realized after about a week of reflection now that while I embody that spirit abroad, and I take advantage of the opportunities I have while studying abroad, I don't always do that at home. We have one life on this entire Earth, and the time has come to make sure that I'm happy while living it. If there is something I know I want, and I can reach out and make it happen to bring greater joy to my life, it's time to do it. Grammy always used to tell me growing up that I can do anything I want to, and for a long time I was content to let the academic realm be the place in which I brought that statement to life, but it's time to expand it. No more passing up on happiness. When you have the opportunity, seize it, because you don't know when it will come again. I don't think I could understand how true that was until going to a communist country, where the meaning of that phrase isn't weighed in money, yet means more than gold.