Conquistadora..?

It's late and I should be sleeping, but somehow I can't. For some reason I keep thinking of one of the essay questions I had to answer for my MU application for this program...it was something along the lines of "How will you deal with the emotional ups and downs that you will experience in a foreign country?" I think I wrote something about how being an anthropology major, I know what to expect when entering a foreign culture, or that since I didn't have any trouble adjusting to college life, I would be fine moving to Mexico for three months (or some such B.S). Looking back, it's almost comical how naive I was...I remember feeling before this trip that I was somehow above all that childish homesickness and loneliness and such. It's funny how arrogant I can be at times...as if moving to college (30 minutes away from my parents' house) was somehow comparable to moving thousands of miles away to a place I had never seen with people I did not know. I have felt lonely, confused, lost, nervous, out of the loop, and just downright bewildered at times. I still experience about 1-4 of these emotions at some point on any given day, but I'm learning above all that I am stronger than any and all of them. Whenever I have doubts I remind myself of what my Aunt Lou Ann wrote to me right before I left..."You were born with the spirit of adventure." Con el alma de aventura...and I'm MAKING IT here...little by little, I'm digging my toes in and making this place and this experience my own. I'm learning that I am resilient and curious and brave, and knowing that makes me feel inconquerable.