The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears

This quote, this metaphor, this philosophy, basically encompasses my whole mentality right now. Knowing I have such little time left in my paradise here in Marseille/France/Europe has made me reflect deeply on all things.

Yes I love Marseille, and France, and Europe. But being here has taught me much more than language fluency and cultural integration. Being here has taught me how to travel without having an anxiety attack. Being here has taught me that H&M and RyanAir are my best friends. Being here has taught me that secretly I am a coffee fiend just like my parents and that I am on the verge of becoming a major shop-a-holic but luckily my good financial sense comes into play, thanks to my parents. Being here has taught me that as much as I love dancing, meeting people in bars is way more fun. Being here has taught me that I do in fact love languages in general, but the Latin languages are my thang. Being here has taught me that I have a tendency to be just as ditzy in French as I am in English, haha! Being here has taught me that I cannot and will not EVER in my life live far away from the ocean. Being here has taught me that making friends in different places, different countries, with different backgrounds, is one of the greatest gifts. Being here has taught me a lifetime and half of things about myself, and others and the world. But my most valued and important lesson is that being here has taught me how to love the world and everyone in it.

They say that studying abroad opens your eyes, and teaches you a lot about yourself. Boy are they right.

As I write this, I cry. I cry for gratitude. A gratitude that is so overwhelming, I have no words, only tears. I am grateful for this experience and EACH and EVERY person and opportunity that played any kind of role in my life here whether it be tiny or enormous.

I have had so many life changing moments this year thanks to so many friends and acquaintances and families that I've gained. It absolutely breaks my heart, rips it in half, to know that I have to leave soon. The other day my friend Caro asked me, "Why aren't you staying for the summer?" My heart jumped in my throat. I didn't have an answer. Except that, despite how much I would love to stay here, especially knowing I have a social and familial community and knowing how spectacular Marseille must be during the summer months... the other half of me, my American me, knows it's soon time to go home. I mean it has been 9 months after all, and I'm beginning to miss home more. That doesn't mean going home or leaving is easy. Neither will be, they'll both be just as hard. But not going home and staying here would be hard too. It's a tricky situation. But all of that is practically futile in the long run, when I KNOW deep down that this is NOT the end for me here, whether in Marseille or France or Europe. I have important relationships and connections with people in multiple cities and countries in Europe. I love the lifestyles and the cultures and the atmosphere in Europe. I have known since a young age that I would live here. All of that reinforces the feeling of fate or destiny that has brought me here. When I come back, things will be different. Just like going back home this summer will be different and Linfield in the fall will be different. But the things and the people that matter will still be there. In all places. In the US, in France, in Italy, in Morocco...etc... To those who I've become close with this year, you know who you are, and I love all of you and cherish all the time we've spent together, the memories we've made, the things we've learned from each other and the relationships I've established with you. They are dear to me and that will not change, despite the distance between us, whether we be an ocean away or a few states away....

That being said, to those I am going home to: I spend a lot of time talking about how much I love it here and how I've made such great friends and adoptive families...etc. That in no way means I overlook the importance you hold for me, too. If anything, it's the contrary! Being far from you guys has made me appreciate you more. I have some pretty damn amazing and supportive friends and family at home, from high school, and at college. You all are the reason I am looking forward to going home. Leaving will hurt, but seeing you all again at home, sweet home, will be.... incredible. I truly am excited to come home, just be with you guys again, laugh with you again, have long conversations with you again, and share our experiences with each other from the past year apart.

Now that my selfish emotional confession is over haha.....I'd like to share a few things:
I have seen two significant things on the internet today. This link relates back to a post I wrote about self-respect and love. It's a letter written by a therapist and father to his young daughter. It's absolutely touching and if you haven't heard of it or had a chance to read it, I urge you to:

 A daddy's letter to his little girl (about her future husband)

If you cried, you're not alone haha!


Now, the next thing I will share with you is what inspired me to write today. It is the epitome of what is, to me, the essence of travel, empathy, humanity, and love for the world and it's people.
This is Matt from Seattle, WA and his "testimony" on how he began his interesting world-wide journey, making connections with people in many countries and essentially sending one giant message to the world: we shouldn't be so afraid of each other.

Where the hell is Matt?

Watch his videos. They're simple, but they're in the least entertaining and neat and interesting. I think they're beautiful. I cried. Of course :)





Thank baby Jesus it's the weekend. I've clearly shed a few too many tears today. I guess I'm just feeling emotional! Anyways. I have lots of exciting plans for this weekend, so I am going to live in this moment and enjoy my activities, I wish you all a great weekend as well :)

Here are photos from my trip to Sardegna and Milan! It was a wonderful trip of course. I cried (surprise, surprise) upon leaving. I just love it there and saying good bye to everyone was the first big good bye I've had to do so far... It was kind of a shock..

What was nice about my trip was getting to see everyone AGAIN. Like, I feel pretty lucky to have created a network and friends in Sardinia. People I will keep in contact with and hopefully see again soon :) The first two days we relaxed in Guspini and went to the beach! We also went to the birthday party of Valentina's friend's boyfriend.. haha And that's when I ate the french fry pizza and got made fun of, because of course the American would eat the french fry pizza :P Come on guys, I had to! lol. We then spent 3 days in Milano. I have to say Milano was not what I expected! We hear about it being THE city for fashion and everything designer and high end. But the city itself was not what I expected it to be. It's fairly industrial and there's no water or real nature close by so that was weird for me! But by the end of the three days Milano's own charm began to reveal itself to me. Vale's sister Rossella was a great host and showed us a nice park, the downtown, we saw the Duomo and lots of other parts of the city. We ate well and did some shopping and we all three got cartilage piercings together :D Which was a great memory! I will always have a bit of Milano with me! What else did we do... Oh we ate dinner at Rossy's friend's house and just hung out! Then it was back to Cagliari Thursday night. We ate and talked and then the next day we had a lovely huge lunch at our friend Elenora's house with her whole family! And her adorable little sister, Rachele, who I taught a little French to, hehe :) We did go out clubbing but I was already so tired! I didn't drink anything. But it was cool to see! It was a perfect vacation. Next summer my friend Mary and I plan to come back to Marseille and I definitely plan on going back to Sardegna and hopefully Sicily! :D I just realized that I love the Mediterrannean in general... I'm hooked!

Enjoy the pics!
Bises,
Katty

Cagliari

Milano 

il Duomo

Back to Guspini <3

Da groupe

Got my second cartilage piercing! (the one on the bottom)

NOMZ

pure bliss.

Clubsters 

Saying goodbyeeee :(

You can't tell but actually I was crying. haha. 

How do I invest in my future?

Just wrote an essay responding to this question for a scholarship. I don't even know how much the scholarship is for but my mom sent it to me saying, I know you like to write, go for it! So really I just did it for the pleasure of writing something that makes me think.

Here's what I wrote...


(I kind of exaggerated when I said I learned Italian.... but hey I'm not so far from it ;))


My future is their future. My future is hers, and his, and yours. My future is our future. 

Our futures affect each other. How you behave and make decisions affects everyone around you, and the result can be negative, but it can also be positive. Everything is connected. 

So when I ask myself "How do I invest in my future?" I am really asking myself, "How can I invest in my own future so that it positively affects everyone else's?"

For me, investing in everyone means investing in the world and pursuing the discovery of the world's cultures. Disciplines such as Intercultural Communication, Inter-religious Communication, Anthropology, International Relations or Politics, and more, are underrated. With the rising impacts of globalization within the economy, international conflicts, the exchange of cultures and the importance of foreign languages, comprehension between cultures is extremely important. To invest in my future and that of everyone else's in the world, I have undertaken the goal of studying multiple languages (French, Arabic, and Italian) and international relations (politics, anthropology, etc.) to better understand those from different cultures and political contexts than my own. My hope is that in better understanding what I do not initially understand, I can spread my knowledge and help others especially at my age understand.

My inspiration in doing so has recently come from what I've learned about Islam and Arab cultures. This year I spent two weeks in Morocco and have studied North-African culture and its influence in France, particularly Marseille. The abrupt meeting of two cultures, particularly between Islamic and Catholic values, often results in conflict and misunderstanding. Even more recently, after the Boston bombing, for which the culprits ended up being Muslim, I noticed many politically incorrect statements posted on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Several of the comments were confusing the definitions of "Islamic" and "Islamist". There is a big difference. It's things like this that motivate me to study different cultures and languages to better understand current world events, political decisions, cultural differences, and different people in general. I want to understand the difference between two definitions such as "Islamic" and "Islamist," I want to know what the real meaning of alterity (or otherness) and empathy is and perpetuate their relevance, and I want to know how to not make culturally and politically incorrect statements like those on the internet.

In learning foreign languages and studying different cultures and politics, and moreover, becoming linguistically and culturally fluent, you learn so much about yourself and your own culture. It causes you to reflect and question what you thought you always knew. The result is always positive because you grow, you share what you know and are learning and it changes how you look at things. This has been my experience in studying abroad this year, and it has motivated me to deepen my understanding of even more cultures in my future. I will travel more, engage in more international political and cultural contexts, aim to work in international governmental and non-governmental environments, and ideally I would love to teach foreign language in my future. Learning foreign languages is just the beginning of cultural discovery, and one of the most fulfilling in my opinion. I have a passion for the world and I'd love to share it with students through teaching language. But that is just one piece of the puzzle. In the big picture, my investment in my future is all-encompassing of all that is intercultural and with the goal of understanding what I don't understand.

If I can spread my knowledge and the importance of understanding others and what is different, I am doing something good. If I can do that, I am investing in my future, and everyone else's. 

Past two weekends...

In short, the past two weekends I have:

1. Had a party at ma crib

2. Fallen down the stairs at Little Temple in front of everyone... not my finest moment

3. Lost my camera and refound it... thank baby Jesus

4. Gone to l'Assom and dressed up in American theme

5. Met soccer players from the Olympique de Marseille, level 2 team, and lots of other new people recently!

6. Gone on a day long motorcycle ride to la Ciotat... we went really, really fast and I felt like I was on a Top Gear episode :D Another check off the Marseille bucket list!!!

7. Gone to the beach

8. Gone dancing at Barberousse... it'd been awhile! 

I think that's the gist of it.... :) Basically the past two weekends have been fantastic! 

Also this song is tha business. "Breeze" - XXYYXX