I can't stop thinking about one of the biggest things that is now on my bucket list. I've always wanted to do it but when I first started thinking about my bucket list I didn't think it would be something that I would add. Honestly it didn't even come to mind.
I am thinking about moving to Colombia for some time, probably a year, I am seriously thinking about it....
When I was younger I always told my parents that I wanted to move to Colombia, when I was an undergraduate I said that I would do it once I graduated. And now here I am, almost three years out of AU and I haven't moved. To be honest I had forgotten. I had forgotten how much I loved being there, I had forgotten how much I enjoy being around my family, and I had forgotten about how much I had wanted to make the move.
I was just in Colombia and in talking to my cousin I randomly brought up the idea again. I said, "Yo siempre habia dicho que me gustaria vivir en Colombia por un año" (I had always said that I wanted to live in Colombia for a year). Then she told me something that left an impression on me, something that has caused me to dwell on this idea nonstop. She told me, you send me your resume and I will find you a job. Simple enough, just like that. Since then I haven't be able to stop thinking about it. I haven't been able to stop imagining what my life would be like if I did. What it would be like to live where my family lives, to be present for every holiday, every birthday, every long weekend, every day. I can't stop thinking about it.
It's something that I have to continue to give a lot of thought but I figure, why not? I am at a stage in my life that if I wanted to pick up and move, I could. I don't have a spouse or children to think about, aqui no tengo ningun compromiso, nothing to tie me down.
Could I? Could I get up and move to Colombia to work for a while and be around my family?
Who does that?!?!?!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Skydiving
This is one of the first adventurous experiences that I have had in life and also the one that stands out the most in my memory.
Summer 2005
It was the summer after my freshmen year at college. As my summer job I was working in a factory inspecting various pieces of materials for dust and dirt. These pieces were going to be used at hospitals. I know this sounds very random but it was a job that had to be done and I was lucky to have it. It was actually really difficult. At times we had to cut the fabric into hundreds of little pieces into different shapes and then inspect them. Anyway, I was working long hours and making about $300 a week doing that.
At the time, skydiving cost $200 and it cost $100 for someone else to jump at the same time as me and record a video and take pictures. But I was going to be jumping out of plane, I HAD to have documentation of that.
I got onto a very small plane with 8 other people who were jumping that afternoon, all of us with our instructor of course. I was going to be the first one to jump so I was right by the open door of the plane and could see us getting higher and higher. Right before it was my turn to take the leap everyone in the plane started yelling "Don't do it, don't do it" haha.
Boom! My instructor counted 1, 2, and then we were out the door. What happened to 3??? For the first 10 seconds that I was in the air I could not breathe. It felt like an eternity, I thought minutes were going by and that I wasn't going to make it out alive. I honestly thought that I wasn't going to be able to breathe for the entire fall and that the instructor would land and that I would just be lying there. Luckily, this was not the case.
10 seconds after we were out of the plane, I was breathing again. I was enjoying the view, enjoying the intense wind against my face and arms, enjoying the thrill of falling at an unmeasurable speed. I was waving at the camera, blowing kisses, smiling, all was great.
Then my instructor pulled open the parachute, once again without even warning, and I got swooped up into the sky. My facial reaction in the video recording is priceless. After that we slowly glided down to earth. My instructor told me that because I was so light it would take us a little longer to land. So he spun me along as we drifted in the air and he pointed out various locations in the distance. Unfortunately all of those spins were making me dizzy. We landed and I went straight to the bathroom for I feared I would throw up. Luckily I did not, but the instructors still made fun of me for getting queasy.
It was an amazing experience I will never forget. It was exhilarating and out of this world. Again I thought to myself, who does that?!?!?! Apparently I do.
Summer 2005
It was the summer after my freshmen year at college. As my summer job I was working in a factory inspecting various pieces of materials for dust and dirt. These pieces were going to be used at hospitals. I know this sounds very random but it was a job that had to be done and I was lucky to have it. It was actually really difficult. At times we had to cut the fabric into hundreds of little pieces into different shapes and then inspect them. Anyway, I was working long hours and making about $300 a week doing that.
At the time, skydiving cost $200 and it cost $100 for someone else to jump at the same time as me and record a video and take pictures. But I was going to be jumping out of plane, I HAD to have documentation of that.
I got onto a very small plane with 8 other people who were jumping that afternoon, all of us with our instructor of course. I was going to be the first one to jump so I was right by the open door of the plane and could see us getting higher and higher. Right before it was my turn to take the leap everyone in the plane started yelling "Don't do it, don't do it" haha.
Boom! My instructor counted 1, 2, and then we were out the door. What happened to 3??? For the first 10 seconds that I was in the air I could not breathe. It felt like an eternity, I thought minutes were going by and that I wasn't going to make it out alive. I honestly thought that I wasn't going to be able to breathe for the entire fall and that the instructor would land and that I would just be lying there. Luckily, this was not the case.
10 seconds after we were out of the plane, I was breathing again. I was enjoying the view, enjoying the intense wind against my face and arms, enjoying the thrill of falling at an unmeasurable speed. I was waving at the camera, blowing kisses, smiling, all was great.
Then my instructor pulled open the parachute, once again without even warning, and I got swooped up into the sky. My facial reaction in the video recording is priceless. After that we slowly glided down to earth. My instructor told me that because I was so light it would take us a little longer to land. So he spun me along as we drifted in the air and he pointed out various locations in the distance. Unfortunately all of those spins were making me dizzy. We landed and I went straight to the bathroom for I feared I would throw up. Luckily I did not, but the instructors still made fun of me for getting queasy.
It was an amazing experience I will never forget. It was exhilarating and out of this world. Again I thought to myself, who does that?!?!?! Apparently I do.
Paris
October 2004
I had only been living in the dorm at AU for about 2 months when a girl on my floor asked if I wanted to go to Paris for Spring Break. The airline tickets were on sale and they were about $300 round trip. As I do with any big decision (and little decision, hehe), I called my mom and talked to her about it and decided, why not? Let's go to Paris!
March 2005
I went with 3 friends, Maria Elena, Laisa, and Andrea. We didn't have that much money so it was not a luxurious trip to the finest shops and restaurants in Paris but we had an amazing time. We made all the usual stops, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Champs-Élysées, Moulin Rouge, etc. I was the only one who went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I figured I had to, I have no idea what life has in store for me and I didn't know if I would ever be back in Paris.
Our typical meal consisted of a gyro with fries and a drink. Considering the fact that we did not have that much money we started the week off by sharing a sandwich between two of us. Towards the end of the week we had some money left and were hungry so we each started eating our own sandwich. For breakfast we shared a baguette and we ate crepes almost every day.
We partied one night at a club that didn't close until 5am and then we went to a cafe and shared a chocolate croissant, yum! Once the metro opened at 6am we headed back to the apartment we had rented for the week. The apartment was far but it was convenient because we had our own bathroom and kitchen and we could feel comfort in knowing that our stuff was in a safe place.
Every morning I said to Laisa, can you believe we are in Paris? It seemed so unreal to me. Here I was, 19 years old, I had only been away from home about 8 months and I was in Paris. Who does that?!?!?! Apparently I do.
I had only been living in the dorm at AU for about 2 months when a girl on my floor asked if I wanted to go to Paris for Spring Break. The airline tickets were on sale and they were about $300 round trip. As I do with any big decision (and little decision, hehe), I called my mom and talked to her about it and decided, why not? Let's go to Paris!
March 2005
I went with 3 friends, Maria Elena, Laisa, and Andrea. We didn't have that much money so it was not a luxurious trip to the finest shops and restaurants in Paris but we had an amazing time. We made all the usual stops, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Champs-Élysées, Moulin Rouge, etc. I was the only one who went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I figured I had to, I have no idea what life has in store for me and I didn't know if I would ever be back in Paris.
Our typical meal consisted of a gyro with fries and a drink. Considering the fact that we did not have that much money we started the week off by sharing a sandwich between two of us. Towards the end of the week we had some money left and were hungry so we each started eating our own sandwich. For breakfast we shared a baguette and we ate crepes almost every day.
We partied one night at a club that didn't close until 5am and then we went to a cafe and shared a chocolate croissant, yum! Once the metro opened at 6am we headed back to the apartment we had rented for the week. The apartment was far but it was convenient because we had our own bathroom and kitchen and we could feel comfort in knowing that our stuff was in a safe place.
Every morning I said to Laisa, can you believe we are in Paris? It seemed so unreal to me. Here I was, 19 years old, I had only been away from home about 8 months and I was in Paris. Who does that?!?!?! Apparently I do.
Who Am I???
Born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts but in my heart and soul I am Colombian.
My parents came to the United States to provide me with this amazing life, they sacrificed everything and left behind their entire family. My mother is 1 of 17 and my father is 1 of 10. That's a big family to leave behind and I admire my parents for having been able to do so. To this day every time I leave Colombia I cry until I can't cry anymore and I have never stayed there for more than 1 month at a time.
My parents worked multiple jobs to give me a great private education and on top of that I chose one of the most expensive sports to practice, roller skating. I roller skated for 8 years and I had the time of my life doing it. I learned so much from it and from the people that surrounded me during that time. I still miss those days.
Only child and I moved away from home when I was 18 years old to attend American University in Washington, DC. Since then I have grown to call the DMV my home.
Words that describe me: energetic, passionate, optimistic...
And most importantly, I am a HUGE Boston Celtics fan!
My parents came to the United States to provide me with this amazing life, they sacrificed everything and left behind their entire family. My mother is 1 of 17 and my father is 1 of 10. That's a big family to leave behind and I admire my parents for having been able to do so. To this day every time I leave Colombia I cry until I can't cry anymore and I have never stayed there for more than 1 month at a time.
My parents worked multiple jobs to give me a great private education and on top of that I chose one of the most expensive sports to practice, roller skating. I roller skated for 8 years and I had the time of my life doing it. I learned so much from it and from the people that surrounded me during that time. I still miss those days.
Only child and I moved away from home when I was 18 years old to attend American University in Washington, DC. Since then I have grown to call the DMV my home.
Words that describe me: energetic, passionate, optimistic...
And most importantly, I am a HUGE Boston Celtics fan!
Here I Go.....
I've been wanting to do this for a long time now. This is long overdue. As I think about everything I want to write I start to get emotional, there is so much to share, so many thoughts. I've been so blessed by God.
Unfortunately my fingers cannot type nearly as fast as the words come to mind and if I started writing without any order it would be confusing. As I do everything in my life, I want to organize my thoughts and organize what I write.
Aaaahhh this is so exciting. Anyway, the idea behind this blog is to document the adventures in my life, more specifically, to document my very own bucket list. I am sure many of you have seen the movie and know the concept. I finally saw the movie about 2-3 months ago and I loved it. Since then I have been thinking about my very own bucket list and I figured it would be the perfect way to start blogging.
Me being me, before I start adding things to my list I want to think about everything that I have done already. Things that were never on a list, yet I still did. Horse back riding, skydiving, getting a tattoo, etc.... As I said before I have been very blessed by God. I am 25 and I have already traveled to beautiful places, I've seen one of the new seven wonders of the world, and I have had some crazy experiences.
And this is only the beginning, so here I go.....
Unfortunately my fingers cannot type nearly as fast as the words come to mind and if I started writing without any order it would be confusing. As I do everything in my life, I want to organize my thoughts and organize what I write.
Aaaahhh this is so exciting. Anyway, the idea behind this blog is to document the adventures in my life, more specifically, to document my very own bucket list. I am sure many of you have seen the movie and know the concept. I finally saw the movie about 2-3 months ago and I loved it. Since then I have been thinking about my very own bucket list and I figured it would be the perfect way to start blogging.
Me being me, before I start adding things to my list I want to think about everything that I have done already. Things that were never on a list, yet I still did. Horse back riding, skydiving, getting a tattoo, etc.... As I said before I have been very blessed by God. I am 25 and I have already traveled to beautiful places, I've seen one of the new seven wonders of the world, and I have had some crazy experiences.
And this is only the beginning, so here I go.....
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