The Return to Ithaca

One of the great literary classics of all times, “The Odyssey” by Homer, tells the store of Ulysses on his way back to Ithaca. Many centuries later, another Greek poet, Konstantinos Kavafis, would link this story to the importance of enjoying the “trip” and living what we need to live.

When you set out for Ithaca
Ask that your way be long,
Full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
Angry Poseidon -- do not fear them;
Such as these you will never find
As long as your thought is lofty,
As long as a rare emotion
Touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
Angry Poseidon -- you will not meet them
Unless you carry them in your soul,
Unless your soul raise them up before you.
Ask that your way be long,
At many a summer dawn to enter --
With what gratitude, what joy!
Ports seen for the first time;
To stop at Phoenician trading centers,
And to buy good merchandise.
Mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
And sensuous perfumes of every kind.
Buy as many sensuous perfumes as you can,
Visit many Egyptian cities
To learn and learn from those who have knowledge.
Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind;
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But do not in the least hurry the journey.
Better that it last for years
So that when you reach the island you are old,
Rich with all that you have gained on the way,
Not expecting Ithaca to give you wealth.
Ithaca has given you the splendid voyage.
Without her you would never have set out,
But she has nothing more to give you.
And if you find her poor,
Ithaca has not deceived you.
So wise have you become, of such experience,
That already you will have understood
What these Ithacas mean.

Kostantinos Kavafis

Reverse Cultural Shock???

After some time in AIESEC, you get used to talk about the stages of the exchange process, specially when you're doing the preparation for your SN's. Now, after 3 years out of my country, I realize how little we knew about what we were talking about...specially about re-integrating back to your country.
It's been a little weird having to live it after all those talks... now I know what it's all about....and here's a glimpse about it:

Symptoms of Reverse Culture Shock

Challenge to self-concept:

• torn between two cultures
• loss of national identity
• changed behavior
• changed ideas and values
• changed way of thinking
• international experience has to be integrated in the day-to-day realities of life in the home country without compromising important values acquired in the home country

Disconfirmed expectations:

• nobody is prepared to experience a culture shock in coming home
• most returnees have extremely unrealistic expectations for the home culture
• the reentry is idealized
• friendships aren’t as intense as they were the day one left
• others have not enough capacity to listen to fulfil the returnees need to communicate about his experiences abroad
• family and friends expect that the returnee will be happy to be back home, which is not always the case
  they want him to get back to normal as soon as possible
• family and friends do not expect the returnee to be so critical of the home culture
• family and friends generally expect the returnee to be interested in catching up on popular culture and local gossip
• people will be confused by the returnees’ lack of interest in things about which he once was passionate
  

Sense of loss: much will get lost forever when returning home (friends, landscape, career, lifestyle etc.)

• one gets less value, notice and appreciation back home than abroad
• loss of the closeness of the expatriate community
• loss of status, salary, benefits

MISSING YOU TONS!!!!!!!!!

Guatemala, a day before I leave...

Incredible, but true. A few days ago, I was counting the days left to go back home and now I'm so sad that I have only a few more hours here. After 3 years living in Guatemala, this has become my new home - the place where my friends, my work, even a sort of "family" is... now I have to leave them and start a new journey in the country where I lived before becoming the person that I am now. It's SCARY!!!

So, I've decided to take all the good memories with me, all the experiences, the pictures with the faces of the ones who were close to me during these years and the hope that the times to come are better than the ones I've left behind.
I'll never forget this country and all that I have learned during these years. This has been the time of my life! No lo cambiaría por nada :-)

Faces from Guatemala

These are the faces that I'll always remember from GUATE!!!