I'm not Irish

During my 18 hour bus ride, which went pretty smoothly, I had thought of quite a few profound things to talk about in my blog, yet now that I’ve successfully arrived at my host family’s place, I can’t remember a single thing.

The only thing I remember now is that I met an Irishman, who has been in Buenos Aires for the past 5 months and got a degree to be an English teacher. After only working there for two months, he left (he said he got “itchy feet”) and was on his way to Salta to explore. I asked how long he was staying—he said either a day or the rest of his life. But after laughing, he said most likely only 10 days, but afterwards he might go to Peru or Colombia and teach there. He seemed so carefree. The only thing he was certain of was after having worked a year in Ireland, he saved up all his money to GET OUT! We didn’t get into why he had wanted to leave Ireland so badly, but it seemed to me it probably concerned his antsy-ness.

However, his relaxed and untroubled mindset on his future confused me. My reaction was similar to when a friend told me she knew a guy who after college had bought a one-way ticket to Nepal with no plans, and ended up becoming a certified Buddhist monk. First of all, how cool is that, but on the more rational side, how do you DO that?
It is definitely my organized, plan-ahead, OCD-like personality that keeps me grounded from doing anything so irrational and crazy. I don’t like to think of myself as a boring, only live-by-the-rules kind of person. I like to think I love taking adventures and exploring…I mean, here I am, in Salta, Argentina, alone, not having a single clue if ANY of my DukeEngage proposal will actually work out or apply to the community I’ll be working in. That’s pretty adventuresome right?

Yes, but I didn’t work for a year to save up to take a one-way trip to South America (like the Irishman) or to Nepal (like that crazy college student).

I guess there are levels at which one can step outside one’s comfort zone. I’ve always been open to new things, projects, adventures…but I also like to know I have a place to stay, appropriate transportation, and at least one contact in case everything goes completely haywire. Maybe I can blame this concern for safety and control on the fact that I’m not Irish…