saying goodbye

My trip is finally over. I am sitting in Guadalajara, printing my boarding pass for tomorrow and uploading the most recent photos I have taken here. I am trying to reflect on my trip so I can produce some profound words to describe my experience, but I´m falling short. Instead, I will write a few things I have been thinking lately:

1. Mexico is everything I thought it would be and nothing like I thought it would be.
2. As influential as the US is on this country, particularly in terms of immigration and mass media, it is remarkable how little day to day life seems affected by my country. I think I had imagined a place where immigration was always discussed, or where being American was a novelty, but it was nothing like that. People didn´t care much that I was American and just treated me like everyone else, just someone with a messed up accent.
3. First impressions are wrong. They are so wrong it is laughable. The people I thought I would hate became my best friends, the people I adored eventually wore on me. My perception of people changed and their perceptions of me changed, and I am so glad we gave each other the opportunity to recreate ourselves in each other´s eyes.
4. Once you live on your own, is it insanely difficult to live with someone again. In New York I have lived without my family for three years, and suddenly, I was living with a family that wasn´t even my own. It was an integral part of my experience, and I´m glad I got to live it, but I am also glad it´s over. At a certain point, being told you shouldn´t drink cold water or eat mangos when you have a sore throat begins to wear on you.
5. It´s impossible to judge anything without the passage of time. My first two months in Guanajuato weren´t horrible, but they also weren´t great. I was lonely and afraid my Spanish wasn´t approving. Two months after that, I was dreading the thought of going home, speaking Spanish consistently throughout the day, and feeling 50% Mexican.
6. I am so glad Latin American studies in my major. I love Mexico, I love Latin America, I feel like I just tasted a tiny bit of what this amazing region has to offer. It´s corny and cliche, but I feel unsatisfied, unfulfilled leaving here, knowing how much more there is to explore.