Two Minor Epiphanies

I'm sorry for posting so often, but I think that what I'm about to say is important. I have had two (minor) epiphanies this week.

Epiphany 1)
I am like a baby. Everyday I'm exposed to news things. I am constantly learning language, society rules, and mannerisomes. I mostly copy what to do from my parents and siblings, and everyone around me is quick to correct if I make a mistake or if I can do something better. It's amazing that I'm absorbing information at every second of every minute of every day. The whole world, and things that more experienced members of the population find mundane, are innately fascinating for me. I can't talk very much, and sometimes it's hard to get my message across, but I just need to wait a little longer for it to get better. I know that what I am learning--right now, without even realizing it or meaning to--will prepare me for when I've been in this life for a little bit longer and I can communicate and behave as an adult. Some day soon, I will be a full-grown Spaniard.

This one isn't major enough to be a minor epiphany, but it deserves to be mentioned. The other day I was in English class, laughing my head off because my teacher can't make the hard 'x' sound. So, she'll go like: "Okey, classs. Turn to paje twee for ey-er-size A!" and I'd just crack myself up from the corner of the room. Then I realized that I can't always get the hard 'g' sound. Heh-neral probably sounds pretty funny to my English teacher, too, but no one in Spain has ever laughed at me before. Needless to say, I hung my head for the rest of the day and felt very humbled.

Epiphany 2)
The second one hit me as I was walking home from school. I'd made a routine by then--get out from colegio, walk to the main street, take my three cross-walks like clockwork, walk a bit more, arrive at home. One day, for no reason in particular, I decided to make a tiny change in my route. It was a minimal alteration: instead of walking under the cool shade of some building on the right side of the street, I decided to cross over to the left side of the street, and see what it was like to return home in the sun. I am so glad that I did. I was strolling along, looking at the path that I had obliviously taken countless times before, when I saw the faces of the buildings I had been walking next to.

There was a beautiful cathedral, just right there, just out of view. It would have been impossible for me to look up and appreciate the spectacle from my normal direction, but just from one little change I was able to see my daily life in a completely different, better way.

How does this tie in? You guessed it. Those who change their lives at a young age like mine will gain a wonderfully different view on the world. I'm learning a culture and a language--a whole culture!!! I can boast that I have friends not only from America and Spain, but from around the world with AFS. I have been connected with opportunities and outlooks that I never would have had access to if I had stayed in my small routine life in North Carolina, and I just know that somehow this will benefit me later on.

AFS has enabled me and more than 370,000 students around the world to share in this life changing experience. For that, I will forever be grateful.