by Emerson, Tufts 1+4 Participant
I’m screaming. There’s a furry gray mouse in my room and my eleven year old host brother is chasing it around. With a machete. He doesn’t catch it, which I’m partially glad about. I didn’t really need mouse guts all over the floor.
While this event happened over a month ago, I feel it symbolizes Nicaragua for me. No, I don’t see machetes murdering mice on a daily basis. What I mean is the unexpected always seems to slither its way into my life in much larger ways than it would before. In the States, the unexpected for me was finding a mint condition Dixon Ticonderoga pencil on the ground, getting a hummus sandwich instead of the typical PBJ, or having a new face show up to a club meeting.
Now, my life encompasses surprises like going to a dance class to learn salsa, only to learn moves to Beyonce’s Single Ladies. Or showing up to work, only to learn the English teacher I’m helping isn’t going to show up, so I have to scramble to improvise lesson plans for the day. Or maybe, I’ll be innocently searching for some socks, and a furry friend will fly out, ready to be chased by some sharp objects.
It may sound weird, but as I pass the halfway point of my Bridge-Year, I can’t help but cherish these moments. Saying “I’ve been here for four months” and “I have four more months left here” hold the same time value on my approximately eight month trip, but the significance behind each is very different. While one suggests experiences and opportunities to build upon, the other clearly signifies a termination. The exciting feeling of living one month in Nicaragua is going to convert into a somber mood of only having a month, a week, and eventually a day left. And the end of living in Nicaragua does feel like the end of a boundless adventure.
I’ll relish the rest of this adventure, but instead of looking back on it as a time long gone, I’m going to try to begin new escapades, small and large, in the States. And what about you? There are 1,440 minutes at your disposal tomorrow, how are you going to use them to find adventure?