Last Day: Home in less than 24 hours.

To be honest, I'm really not a sentimental person. That may come as a surprise to those of you who know me relatively well; but it's true. I am an emotional person, and here I think there's a difference. Though I am emotional, I don't dream; I don't get easily attached to someone or something; and I don't get sentimental. Usually.

It seems that with age, though, sentimental hormones kick in, or something. The last opera I sang in was the first performance where I've felt like I was really losing something important when it ended. Last year I went to the Black Hills Playhouse to work professional theater and, to be quite honest, hated it, but I made some connection with the people there and especially with the land, and when I left, I cried like a baby.

Here I am in Brazil, and until now I have felt sorry to go, but nothing more. I said goodbye to my friends a week ago before I traveled away from Ribeirao and sure, we all cried a little, because I will miss them and the future of our friendships is uncertain since we don't know where we'll be after college. Then today I came downstairs for lunch today and my host mother, Cynthia, and sister, Manuela, were standing at the bottom of the stairs with smiles on their faces.

And I felt like crying, because I knew they had bought something for me.

So I took the chocolate (which is for me and my mother) and said thank you, trying not to show that I was choked up (since they weren't). Then we had lunch.

So, to get sentimental on all of you (even though I'm not a sentimental person), I'm really going to miss this country and, even more, it's people. The people are what make the country here. Everyone is happy even when they're sad and everyone has an optimistic outlook on life and the lives of people around them. Brazilians say Brazil is a land blessed by God. Well, here I am, a young woman without a religion, who's not sure if there is a God, or if there is, if He blesses things, but I know that I feel blessed to be here-- truly blessed--by something. I think being here has opened up a totally different world for me. It's a wonderful feeling to feel at home in a country that isn't your own, that you've only been in for two months and yet you feel like you belong, even when you and everyone else know you are different. I know I can come back and will always be welcome. I know I have a graduate school invitation to USP. I know I can come back if I wish do more research. And I know I have a new career path that's opened up right in front of where I have been standing for the past three years of college. These things make me sentimental, definitely.
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If you've been reading these blogs, please comment on this last one with either simply your name or a message concerning how you've enjoyed it.

Writing this blog has been enjoyable for me, too. For one thing, it's helped me maintain (most of) the English language. But, also, I've been able to share my feelings and foreign experiences with friends, family, maybe even acquaintances, and most of all, with Americans.

United States: I'm coming home to you a stronger and better person, and I can't wait to see you tomorrow.

Melody