viernes, 27 de agosto de 2010

I feel so powerful when I cross the streets.

In order to know where I'm gonna be living, lately I've been walking around, tasting coffee from different places in and out the campus, sitting in different places trying to picture myself studying for the finals in one or some of those locations. The campus is full with options of quiet places to study. Coffee shops, little parks, benches anywhere, the library... but two blocks away from it, there's this little circle plaza that everyone just call "the circle", and it as a perfect place to sit and read for hours. 
Every time I have to cross a street, a deep feeling of superiority fills my soul. The cars stop so that people can cross the street. Big thing, one could say. But living in a county in which people have to yield instead of cars, this system is just amazing. 

Today is not as hot as yesterday, that's a relief. I wonder how people can be feel comfortable with a thermometer that seems to be always above 30º Celsius. One of the things I miss the most from my country is precisely that. In my town it was never too hot or too cold and there was a rainy season for 6 months. But when you think about it, maybe there's a correlation between living in a semi-arid area (a desert, in my opinion) and having a strong economy. People here had to fight for their lives from the beginning (they don't have to any more, it seems like everything in life is arranged for them now) and that is what made them be so competitive, thus, lead them to be successful in the market economy that they managed to build. But that is not my point.

People here take very serious some laws. It says SOME and not ALL for obvious reasons that I think would be a stupid waste of time to write here. Take the signs in the streets for example. If there's a sign that says "two hour parking" people do not stay more that two hours there because they know the'll get a ticket for that. If there's a sign that says ""Xing" cars stop and let us, pedestrians. It is just amazing, and there is just two key things that allow them to appear as a very organized society: they are educated about it (people know what the signs mean) and people know there's gonna be a consequence if they don't follow the rules (the do get a ticket, it is not just a threat. 

I have got to be honest and say that it is very difficult to adapt to this culture. No matter how many movies and t.v. series I've seen, this is not entirely like they show it on the media. Yes, this place, so far, looks a lot like a high school (because a lot of the people here just got out of high school), but it is not completely like it. Sometimes I feel like I'm living inside of a mixture of Glee, High School Musical and any other movie/t.v show that you can think of. 

I remember that my first day at USAC was nothing like my days of school. You could feel it in the air. Seriously. Our building was always reeking of cigarets. I haven't seen anyone smoking around here. Good think because it seems to me that U.S.' favorite plant to smoke is not tobacco. 

Everyone seems to be very healthy, or at least concern about their health, fact that makes me dismiss the myth of the people obsess with fast food. I like McDonald's more that anyone I have met so far, which is kind of shocking to be honest. 
[I just discovered that I do have reggaeton in my computer. Two songs. F*ck.]

Nothing more to add so far. As you have probably noticed by now, this is not a journal any more. The reason why is very simple: I need time to actually live the experience that I writing about. 





No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario