La Bendicion

Chicago cried the day I left for Boston. Well, it was only raining and the sky was all dark, but now I've got your attention. In reality, it was the other way around. I mean, I wasn't going to be able to enjoy this place in a long time:

I've been coming here for tacos since I was a baby. Aww.

After the excruciating task of deciding which things to leave and take was (somehow) complete, my last day "at home" was spent everywhere but home--cruising around Chicago taking pictures of places that had some meaning to me, hanging out with a couple of friends, going to the dentist to get a tiny cavity fixed (this is no big surprise), and visiting my abuelos who were luckily in the area. 

After talking to them for about an hour, it was time for me to go my way. So, in the spirit of tradition, I asked for their blessing. Except now I wasn't with my family going away on a small trip. Now, I was alone, going off to college.

If I ever see one of these in Boston,
 I will run up to it and
give it a hug.

As I bowed my head and kissed their hand, I couldn't help but to think of my kindergarten days and remember that phase in which I cried because I thought I was never to see my mom again.

After they were done, my grandpa asked, “Con quien vas a ir?” See, in the town my family’s from, it’s quite common that students who wish to further their education go away to study with a sibling or cousin. Often, this even means that one of them waits a year or two so that they could enter together. Not wanting to expose the fact that I basically was going to have to figure things all on my own, I replied with “some compañeros I met in a summer program last year will be there.”

Of course, my grandpa then proceeded to make some variation of the /:| face and asked me to clarify—I was going away to study with a bunch of boys?

Sadly, this dentist office was once a
 Fanny  May. I guess Karma does exist?

On the way to the airport, my mom reminded me, like she had always done in high school, “Acuerdate que sin comer ni dormir no vives.” Ironically, this was said all while eating some chicken that had been my idea to bring. Nevertheless, I told her that she was right—what’s the point of going away only to die from starvation?

And then of course there were my sisters who called me 

yesterday, my first night here, to inform me that they keep on reminding mom to “wait for Ana”, and that THIS made them realize they missed me. :’D I’m glad to know that their enthusiasm for "their new place to listen to music" (my room) eventually dwindled down to a more normal level. 

In any case, I can still feel the gravity of college. I can still hear some tension in my parent’s voices when I call. I guess this "feeling" is as much a reminder of their sacrifices as it is my inspiration to give this college thing all I've got.  This whole experience gives off an odd kind of adult feeling. But alas, the many bendiciones I received this past week are still hovering over my head, as I sit here in my dorm room, in a whole new chapter of my life. And I really couldn’t be more excited!!!