North American Moments

I think Mexico is pretty awesome (in case you haven't gathered that), but I think it's also important for me to acknowledge that sometimes life here isn't all fun and easy and picturesque. Sometimes I get frustrated, and it's necessary to remember this side of my year here as well as the overwhelmingly good times...which still do far outweigh the bad ones.

Shannon explained to me once that sometimes she has "North American moments" where she idealizes how something would be done in the States as compared to here. Today I had quite of few of these moments.

The orchestra I'm a part of here played this morning in a ceremony to celebrate "Day of the Teacher." (There's a day for everybody here in Mexico...coming soon, Day of the Student...which means no class!) We were scheduled to play at 12, but had a short rehearsal starting at 10...which really means we started at 10:30. To make a painfully long morning short, we ended up playing at 1:30 because the governor arrived late, the speaker went overtime, etc. I was so frustrated at the end of it all because I spent more time sitting around waiting for something to happen than actually doing anything more productive/fun. What I would have given for Dr. Geraldi and the UNCG orchestra...

Another thing that has me thinking about home a lot right now is that today was graduation at UNCG. I've spent some time today looking at everybody's pictures they've posted of their cap and gown, the ceremony, the diploma, etc. And I think that it could have been me. I don't have any regrets about spending this year in Mexico...definitely one of the best experiences of my life. Still, it's somewhat strange to think that I could have offically been a college graduate by this time. Time goes so fast and while I am still very grateful for the chance to still be a full-time student, part of me would have liked to participate in the festivities today with everybody else.

In closing, I'm sure that when I wake up tomorrow I will be in a much better mood. That's the good thing about it...I can never stay bummed for very long :)