Viva la Vida

I most certainly did not blog over the summer...or even over the fall.

In my defense though, both the computers and the internet in Mexico leave a lot to be desired. Yes, Mexico. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I met some amazing people, ate some amazing food, and had some amazing times. It changed my life.

Lauralee, my super cool roommate, and I had a catchphrase--"Viva la vida." We were so determined to make every single minute memorable--and you know what? It was. It really really was.

Attitude is everything. Something that I learned over the summer is that I can't always control what's going to happen. But it's okay. In Mexico, I had no control over a lot of things. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on. Sometimes I offended people. Sometimes other people offended me.

I remember this one time my roommate and I were talking in the church in Mexico with one of our friends and we didn't see an older Mexican lady standing in front of us. When we finally turned around, the poor lady was so offended that we had ignored her that she told us off, saying we were prideful and rude. I think by the end of that encounter, we were just as offended as she was.

And then I realized that it didn't really matter. That was a huge defining moment in the trip. It had been a cultural issue and I couldn't control or change what had happened. I learned to let stuff like that just roll off my back.

By the end of the trip, swallowing my pride had become such a daily occurrence that it didn't even feel like a lump in my throat anymore. Between falling off the bus, trying to communicate in broken Spanish, stepping up on my partner's toes while trying to learn to salsa dance, getting hopelessly lost, and repeatedly losing the bartering game, I learned to have a blast while being comically incompetent.

Viva la vida.

Live the life.

Life happens. You make mistakes. So you accept it, fix it, and move on. Just enjoy life while it's happening.

Yeah. I loved Mexico.

Still do. Probably always will.
Anyways. Back to the present. This fall semester has been so busy for me...the first half of the semester, I was so overwhelmed. My classes this semester have been pretty challenging and I was working two jobs...one in the Quality Assurance Lab and the other as a Writing Fellow. I got pretty stressed out.

I'm still a little stressed out, but I'm definitely feeling like I've got a handle on things :)It's been a little harder to remember to "viva la vida" but I'm making the effort.

On the bright side, only two more days of school before Thanksgiving Break! My roommate invited me to go home with her, so I'll be going to Las Vegas, baby!