Its kind of surreal really. I mean, I've been home throughout my year off, but this time I'm home for good (except for maybe a little bit of traveling to south east Asia right before school starts). No 2 month trip to look forward to, no interesting adventures to prepare to make, no more 20 hr. flights. Its kind of a bittersweet ending to my year off. On the other hand, people keep asking me, "are you even going to want to go to college next year after all that traveling?" To answer all your questions, YES, yes I am ready for college. You want to know why? Because I have had the most ridiculous, inspiring, and challenging year of my life. I have absolutely no regrets, whatsoever. I've been faced with insane self-discipline (i.e. waking up everyday at 5:30 to look forward to running up mountains, hitting trees with my arms, and meditating for 4 hours everyday), copious amounts of fun (i.e. surfing everyday, speaking Spanish, speaking to Spanish women, and partying with people all over the world), and of course getting in touch with family and my religious side (i.e. learning Hebrew/traveling all over Israel).
I mean I've also faced some weird/difficult things like getting used to sleeping in an updated 1940's Chinese mental institution, having to deal with being provided only 1 shower for 40 people, no heating during blizzards, eating scorpions, and real Chinese driving (the general population in China has only been able to legally drive for the past 10 years). Also, emergency landings/broken airplane engines, sea urchins, reef cuts, sharks, 12 foot waves, only having running water between 8:30 am and 9:15 am, broken bicycles, and more. And finally, a shower not even fit for a midget, being turned away from clubs because the age was 24 that night, kosher Brazilian BBQ, everything being kosher for that matter, running the Staircase to Hell, and learning to like hummus way too much.
The best parts of this year are the people I will never forget. All my friends at Kunyu Shan Martial Arts Academy, while we all raced to eat as much boiled cabbage as possible, drink large bottles of Pijiu, run up 15 km mountains and take 4 hr. bus trips just to get a glimpse of satellite television. My friends in Bocas del Toro and at Spanish by the Sea who are crazy dutch people, musical inspirations, surfers, 3 Question game players, private beach campers, shark swimmers, local gangsters, mami chulas, and papi chulos. And finally my friends in Israel who are soldiers, crazy partiers from Miami/Switzerland, students of Seth Rogen, French people who only know me as Jaque Cousteau, and the amazing mind of an MIT engineer that probably rivals that of Albert Einstein, and Albert Einstein's looks too.
What can I say. Well I could say I wouldn't trade this year for the world. But between all the ups and downs, and all the engine failures, emergency landings, and long travel hours, and all the injuries....well I could say:
和平, Paz, שלום, Peace.
till the next journey begins...
