I’m so glad that in my first post for World News I thanked in advance those people who would transform my life. At the end, many did it and in a great way. Here in the quiet Salem, I got to know a chunk of what the world is like because of them.

I’m also glad I can say I met people from five different continents. Many Americans made this a great time for me, too. People in the department, the students, the professors whose classes I took, OIE, LIM, and LLC staff… THANK YOU!

Another reason I’m thankful is that I had the chance to travel around the US and see the most breathtaking landscapes. I visited most of those locations I had in mind after watching movies and TV series back in Colombia: San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, The Grand Canyon, New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Florida…! Well, I missed a few others but that, together with visiting some wonderful people here in Oregon again, will make the perfect excuse to come back some day.

I know I won’t miss the rainy weeks, the cold, the weird people on the bus (though I appreciate they were harmless), the crows, and the train horns (of course).

Not to be missed.

But I know for a fact that, apart from the people, I will miss the American cookies (here your science for cookies is too advanced), sushi availability (easier and cheaper to get), the fall and the spring, the range of vegetarian food, some extremely cheap stores, the variety of teas, the tulips, the yellow box of wheat crackers, the ice cream they sell in Montag, the ducks on campus, the proximity to downtown, Tostitos Nachos, Philadelphia cream cheese, riding a bike every day (Medellín is too steep for that), and the squirrels (Colombian squirrels are uglier, sorry).

Colombian Squirrel 😉

I just want to finish by saying that even though I’m not sad (yet) because I’m leaving (you’ll see me whining a couple days before I take off), I’ll miss this place for sure. But the possibility of change back home, the dynamism of the city, my family, my boyfriend and my friends C&C, my plans to keep helping furry souls… going back to that makes me really excited. That’s my wonderful real life. And you’re more than welcome to visit the valley I love!

So friends, be ready to offer me your couch someday… I promise I’ll have mine ready for you. This also applies for Qian, Kazue, Ilka, Alba and Fabien, the other wonderful/ magnificent/ lovely Language Assistants. I didn’t mention them before because they belong to a different category: they’ll be my family around the world <3.

¡Picos y abrazos!