Fallin in Love

Hopefully that title caught everyone’s attention. I wish I had some grand traditional love story to tell you all, but I have something better. Last night was amazing.

We are rapidly approaching our ISP period, when we set out on our own for four weeks to investigate our topic of choice and a majority of us are going to go to some unknown part of Bolivia, live with some unknown family and study, live, learn and then write a 20+ page paper about it. Hence this group of 26 amazing people is going to be split up for four weeks and I personally have a hard time being away from them for a day.

So what happened last night, you ask? Well let’s start at the end. I came home last night and crawled into bed and was exhausted, but my mind was going a mile a minute. I thought about love and how I don’t know what it means at all, but how I think I saw another beautiful glimpse of it last night.

So what happened!?!?!
Well Joe, a really cool kid in our group, threw a party, BBQ, major gringo hang-out session, whatever you want to call it, at his house last night. I was personally excited to make food to take and share it with friends. So people filtered in, the grill finally got lit, Sam dutifully flipped every burger and we ate and ate and talked and talked and laughed and laughed and danced and danced. It was like Madison County in Bolivia and that’s not normal, Madison doesn’t usually go anywhere, it stays in the heart of the Blue Ridge, but last night I think it moved further down south.

So who did I fall in love with?
Everyone.
Joe-for having us all over even after only sleeping for four hours the night before and for putting on eyeliner and a dog collar and taking amazing pictures for Halloween
Amy- for laughing really hard at my stories about my host family
Michael S- for bringing that really dark chocolate and having that amazing horse shirt
Dana- for lying on the bed with me and talking and laughing out loud…and other things I don’t remember
Amanda- for making banana chocolate chip cake and listening to Sufjan on repeat for the last few days
Lisa-for shaving her head
Hanna S- for being chill and an amazing goth and for bringing a salad with RANCH dressing
Jenny- for being a hott go-go girl
Hanna R- for being constantly hungry
Jess- for living with nuns
Sam- for flipping burgers for three hours and telling me amazing stories about his life
Brendan- for being a mama’s boy and for wanting a solar power battery charger
Rene- for an amazing broccoli casserole, laying on the bed laughing…and other things
Talya- for trying to help me open the wine bottle
Michael E- NOT for squeezing my dreads (awkward), but just for being a sun-burnt Michael E
Ernesto- for dancing an amazing salsa or whatever it was with me
Margaret Ann- for her AMAZING spanglish
Vivi and Maribell- for breaking it down with me and telling me I was a good dancer (ha! Latino girls telling me I’m a good dancer)
Matt- for being way to curious about everything
Jackson- for trading earrings (bling bling)
Kayla and MJ- for coming to Joe’s right after getting off the plane
Tierra- for being an amazing dresser and for paying for me when I had 10.5 bs to my name
David- for coming to Cochabamba and being put in this mess (he’s Joe’s friend backpacking though L.A. for the semester)

….I’m only missing Leah b/c she wasn’t there, but I fell in love with her a while ago because she is sooo energetic and smart, and I like her laugh

Ok so that’s the group of 25, an amazing group that I literally am in pain about leaving Thursday…when we all reunite again in a month, who knows what will happen….

OH! PS- I got a new power chord for just $105 US dollars (that was sarcastic) but I’m realllly glad to have it!