A Bittersweet Goodbye

As our final days came to an end in Cochabamba, we all realized how much we had become attached to this beautiful city in Bolivia. To say we had an incredible time is a bit of an understatement; it was an unforgettable experience that brought us to new points in our life and one that has brought us to an understanding with a culture so different from our own. We each have own feelings towards Cochabamba and we each developed our own bonds with people, but I feel that we all have a common sentiment toward our experience and we are each sad to leave so soon.

I would like to take some time to tell you all about my host family. I do not think that I really said much, if anything at all, about them and I feel that they deserve some recognition because they were a large part of my experience. In the beginning, I was very nervous about staying with a host family because I was not sure what kind of people they were going to be or how it was going to work out. My worries were soon faded away; I could not have been placed with a better family. Andrea and Alvaro, my host parents, are two incredible people with so much love to share and they made me feel more than welcome in their home. I developed some very strong bonds with them and I know that they will be life friends. Their children were also a daily joy, always asking me questions in Spanish that I could never understand. I felt very proud by the end when I could finally understand what they were saying to me :).

The most difficult part about leaving Cochabamba was the torn feeling between wanting to stay and wanting to go home. Of course, I miss my family back in the states and three months is a long time to be away, but it is difficult to leave people who you have become so close with knowing that it is not going to be easy to return. Stopping by for a weekend barbeque becomes impossible when you have an ocean between you.

For any of you who are interested in doing a study abroad program I highly recommend living with a host family. I could not have learned the things that I did without living with a family during the time I was in Cochabamba. I became a part of their daily lives, learned about their hardships and their happiness, and above all, I felt like I truly belonged. I now feel like Cochabamba is home to me. It is my home away from home and a place that I will always hold dear to my heart.