Uh oh, I'm changing....a lot.

I've been in Chile for a month and a half now, and I already feel like a completely different person. Culture shock has already begun changing my mindset. Statements like that take a little bit of explaining. Here is the Top 10 things I have learned:

1.  Life is just as enjoyable in second world countries as it is in the USA. Things are different here than in the US, but that by no means makes it worse. There isn't good coffee, you can't flush toilet paper, service at restaurants is much worse, etc. but life isn't based on objects. I've learned to care less about materials and more about my experience. I can honestly say I can see me moving to Chile after college. Day to day life is different, but just as enjoyable.
2. Optimism will open your life to more opportunities than winning the lottery. Optimism is key in the situation I am in because communication can be very difficult and very frustrating. If you quit, you are going to miss out on the experience of a life time. My best moments in Chile have come from great time with friends from all around the world and not from things you buy. Without optimism, you will never try the best things in life. I have grown and learned from having absolute openness.
3. We communicate more with our face than our voice. I can't talk to Chileans over the phone. Can't do it, not possible. I cannot understand them at all, but the second I am face to face with a friend, we both are able to have full deep conversations. You don't have to speak the same language to understand emotions when you are looking at each other.
4. Sometimes, just have to dance. Going out in Oklahoma is very different than going out in Chile. Usual nights out in Oklahoma include beer pong, photos, and more drinking games. Nights out in Chile include dancing, pisco, dancing, latin dancing, more pisco, and more dancing. We literally dance all night, and I think it is one of the best forms of therapy. You can't frown while dancing; it is 100% impossible. I don't know what I'm going to do in the Oklahoma if I can't find a discotheque. There would be much less drama if people would just shut up and dance.
5. The travel bug is here to stay. I'm sorry, but this will not be the last adventure of my college career. I'm already making plans to visit Germany, Mexico, and Australia in 2012 with some friends back in the states. I'm also speaking with a university in Switzerland about graduate school in 2013. Furthermore, I've decided come hell or high water I will be in Brazil for the World Cup in 2014. My new goal is to visit every continent before I'm 30. I've learned too much about myself to not continue exploring. I lived in the states for 20 years, and I think that is long enough for one life time. My only desire in life right now is to fill up my passport. The thirst for culture is now a permanent part of who I am.
6. Two languages aren't enough. While being bilingual is great, it limits me to where I can travel. I've decided as soon as I am completely fluent in Spanish I am going to start on a third language. Currently thinking either French or German, but I'm very open to my options. There are students here from Germany that speak 4 or 5 languages! I want to be like that one day! If I really wish to travel the world, I need to expand my horizons. 
7. My new religion is fútbol. I love watching American football and basketball. I love playing fútbol. This is my sport. I'm too skinny for football, too white for basketball, too poor for golf, too interesting for tennis, but I fit right into the soccer culture. I can play every single day and still want to play more. By no means am I good yet, but that is the joy of the sport. You don't have to be the best player in the world to play. You just have to try. I will definitely be joining a club when I go back to the United States.
8. Activism is a joke in the United States. Feminists, Pro-Life Advocates, and Tea Party members should all turn on their TV to the Chilean news. Students here could teach activists so much. There are students literally living in the schools in protest to prevent any teaching from happening until there is serious education reform. They stage kiss-athons in the middle of public to draw attentions with crowds over 10,000 people. They have massive flash dances in costumes. They do it all, and they refuse to stop until they receive the change they want! It has been going on for months. The school year is lost, but these students and teachers are not budging. There are teachers who quit their jobs to help in the movement. Liberals, take notes from these kids because we need serious change!
9. Today is more important than tomorrow. Every day in Chile has become more valuable to me than some friends life. I love this and never want it to end. It has taught me to seize every opportunity possible and never put things off for another day. If I had put of studying abroad until the next semester, I might not have ever made it here. If you want to do something, do it today!
10. I want everything in life. I saved the most important for last. I've realized here that settling is just not in my path. I will live in the mountains of Switzerland, watch the World Cup in Brazil, travel to the beaches of Thailand, learn a third language, and much much more. Friends and family are great, but I want more out of life than they can offer. I'm not speaking of money, but experiences. At no point will I ever lose these ambitions. No one in family has ever really traveled the world. I plan on changing this. Currently, I have zero desire to settle down and stop moving. I'm not running from anything, but much more running for the open doors of life. We settle way too quickly for my interest. Hopefully, in 10 years I am able to call the world my home. Call me crazy if you want, but it might be hard to do so because I could be in the jungles of South Africa with no signal.