The Task Ahead

Only two more days. Tomorrow, I'll be fifteen, and I will go to work for the last time. This time, in 48 hours, I will be saying goodbye to my host family. In three days, I'll be in Italy. The past two weeks have flown by, and yet every day has been a struggle, an adventure. Each day has been a life-altering experience contained in a period of 24 hours. When I get home, I will write an essay on this trip, and I will also try to write about a topic which has been pervasive all throughout this trip, the issue of religion.

I don't know how I feel about coming home. The world I am coming back to is not a great one, for me personally, as for everyone in general. This is a place where, for better or for worse, I am independent, free to make the final call. I live my life more or less alone, and that can be a very freeing experience. I do not know when will be the next time I am this free, when will be the next time I will learn so much. This has been a very personal experience, and even my dad, who stayed here himself for a week, cannot fully understand what this trip has been like for me. However, I must say that the thought of coming home is extremely exciting. I am counting the hours. Two more days. Two more showers. Two more clando trips. One more work-day. Two more snack-times. Two more dinners. I'm so close, and my excitement sends adrenaline coursing through my blood. And yet, as I think about my joy, I think that I would be at peace if the end was farther away. My emotions are very mixed. I do not know what I think.

I do not know what the long term effects of this trip will be. I have a different world-view, and my take on multiculturalism, religion, and politics have all dramatically changed. I face the task of piecing together my new opinions, of ironing out the contradictions and adding these realities to the fabric of my ideas. As I've said, my take on religion has been altered, but even in this new and recent analysis, I see contradictions. I will have to think hard about all these ideas. I must try to use this experience to grow more.