The final chapter

After the emotional goodbyes in Mexico and the long flight back to Australia I was confronted with a kind of reverse culture shock coming home to where I had once been almost too comfortable leaving behind my new home away from home, cultural re-adjustment works both ways in this respect. The hardest aspect of this initially was the apparent timelessness of everything at home, my friends doing the same things, studying the same courses, in the same jobs, the city, every aspect of life, unchanged. Coming from exchange where you are constantly experiencing new things, meeting new people and travelling to new places, the consistency and predictability of home can be depressing. After some weeks of reflection however I came to the realisation that whilst I was away I had missed home for exactly what it was and so it was completely irrational to want it to be any different after I returned, it is the consistent and unchanging nature of home that makes it so endearing and that secure place that you can always return after foreign adventures such as exchange.

Speaking generally about the exchange experience as a whole, I can comfortably say that it was the greatest challenge and accomplishment of my life. It’s only after you put yourself truly outside your comfort zone that you come to learn and develop such valuable new skills. When I decided to go on exchange I felt that I was living far too securely in my life at home in Melbourne, beyond academic and sporting challenges life was almost stagnant and merely petering along. Most notably exchange challenges and develops one’s independence, their capacity to survive alone, to make new friends, to find a new way to live in a new culture. Personal skills develop at a rapid pace as you meet hundreds of new people within weeks, most importantly from all over the world from all different cultural backgrounds and so developing a greater sense of cultural understanding is unavoidable. Learning in a new educational environment provides a new and rewarding challenge; there is a need to adjust to new standards of academic performance, to collaborate with individuals in a foreign language and to work under the added personal pressure of being away from home. There is no doubt that exchange to any country helps to develop these and many other similar skills, growing the individual as a whole and this is exactly how I felt at the end of my exchange; empowered, confident and ultimately an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

More specifically, with regard to my exchange experience in Mexico, it is difficult to comprehensively articulate the amount that I learnt and experienced in this unique and amazing country. Obviously there are distinct cultural differences that exist between Australia and a country such as Mexico, the thing that amazed me the most was the ease with which I was able to gain a cultural insight wherever I travelled across the country, the kindness and generosity of the people, their inquisitiveness and their passion for their country, their identity and their culture. No doubt this sense of nationalist pride is the result of a tumultuous history of violence and revolution, their fight for independence and freedom. Learning about the colourful history of Mexico while simultaneously travelling the country, living and studying with Mexicans allowed me to encounter a broad cross section of the community and through them see the values of modern day Mexicans. Ultimately what struck me most notably was the diversity of the country and its people, geographically, socially and psychologically speaking. From the deserts in the north to the white sands and turquoise waters on the Caribbean coast, from the devout Catholic to the young educated student, self-aware of their position in the global community and determined to explore opportunities abroad, it is this diversity and growth as much as religious and cultural traditions that distinguish Mexico as one of the most remarkable countries in the world.

I have no doubt that the single skill that enabled me to gain, what I felt, was a significant insight into Mexican culture was my language. From the moment I arrived in Mexico it was the single skill I was determined to work on and develop and as I improved it added to my sense of belonging and the ease with which I lived. 

In the future I will complete a major in Spanish Language as part of my Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor or Laws degree at Monash University and may continue my Spanish via another exchange program or by completing an honours degree abroad. In the meantime I am maintaining my language by tutoring new students and taking the occasional lesson myself, listening to Spanish news and reading articles from foreign papers, but most regularly from Mexico a country with which I retain a strong connection. In the long term I hope to work for the UN as an intern in South America.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my time in Mexico, it has been a pleasure to write this blog and relive and reflect upon some of the most amazing experiences of my life. Most importantly I hope that for some this blog can act as a source of encouragement to learn another language, to travel abroad or to take part in an exchange program. 

The fast approaching end

It was, in my mind at least, not long at all before the end of semester had arrived, before I knew it I was studying for exams and even saying goodbye to people I felt I had known for a lifetime let alone just a few weeks. To say that it was ‘over in the blink of an eye’ though doesn’t quite capture the reality of my experience, because for each and every day, for every moment of those days my eyes were open wide, almost afraid to blink out of fear for what I may miss, and it was with this overbearing enthusiasm that I lived these days and experienced everything that passed before me.

As the end did approach it was unavoidably a time to reflect and as I turned back to look across the preceding weeks I was overwhelmed by a thick blanket of nostalgia. There’s something about reflection over a significant and meaningful time in your life, the trials, the hard times seem to dissolve in a wave of pure joy and happiness that seems to wash over the hours, days and weeks, leaving no moment untouched. The reality is obviously a different story, but a day suffering food poisoning in Mexico City is overshadowed by the mere magnificence of a visit to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the struggles to communicate, the awkward silences, the anxiety and insecurity of being so far from home all but a faded dot on a timeline that stretched across the page and arrived at the present to reveal a self-assured and content me, all the richer for the ups and downs that I had experienced.

So it was, my attempts to reflect accurately on my time away were thwarted, the challenges, the moments of desperation uncontrollably removed from the pages of history, simply overwhelmed by all those memories that brought a smile to my face whenever they would pop into my head. My time at University was the very best example of my own minds trickery. The challenges I faced were real, 8:00am compulsory classes four days a week and living over an hour from the campus by public transport would be a challenge for any Melbourne based University student who is more accustomed to the late morning or early afternoon lecture times and the relative comforts of our public transport system. Being placed in classes with students from all around the world, some who had been learning Spanish for upwards of 12 and 13 years, these were the realities of my time at school, but looking back what I remember most distinctly are small wins that I had along the way, that gradually gave me momentum and confidence to succeed. Giving my first presentation to a class exclusively in Spanish on a topic as serious as the issue of homosexuality in a catholic state such as Mexico was something I will never forget. The relationships that I forged with my teachers; my speaking partner with whom I met twice a week to practice her English and my Spanish. These were the triumphs that I had in the classroom, on the other side of the world in another language and in another educational culture.

The biggest success that I ever had was finally possessing that feeling of belonging, that which creeps up on you slowly but surely and one day takes you over completely, where you are no longer an alien merely surviving in your environment but rather you are you and you are living in your home. You can never say for sure when this moment has come, but one day, all of a sudden, when you are walking down the street saying ‘Hola’ to a friendly neighbour, or talking casually with a worker at your local supermarket you will know that it has arrived. This is the great tragedy of the exchange experience, as you finally overcome your initial trepidation and insecurities and have come to master your new home, it's time to leave. But this will always be the case, the longer one spends anywhere the more at home and secure they will feel and when the time comes to leave it is inevitable that that very moment will be the pinochle of their own sense of belonging.

For me the hardest part of all of this was saying goodbye to all the people I had met along the way. Goodbyes are never easy, but behind the kind words, the hugs and tears there was always the common understanding that this may be the very last time we see each other and at the very least, this is the very last time we will all be together in the same place at the same time. That part of each of our lives exists together, dependent on one another and independent of our other lives and it is this that connects us in this life despite the fact that it has closed never to be reopened.