Since I am no longer in Indonesia I figured it was time I ended this blog. I started it initially as part of the requirements for the internship/course credit aspect of my trip to Indonesia, but I want to continue blogging and I'm planning on starting a new blog as soon as school is over.
I vaguely remember a few posts back saying something about a concluding post to my trip. I never really got around to it and with a semester of school between me and the experience I've realized I haven't got much to say. The trip was a blast and living in a foreign culture was a whole new level of traveling, one that I'd like to do more of. But I am ready to move on and end the student part of my life. I feel like I've got a lot of big decisions ahead of me and I really want to start this next chapter of my life off well.
My friends at LATIN were really great and I enjoyed many conversations with them, but now the few phrases of Indonesian that I managed to learn will probably go the way of my high school French; I'll always remember some of it, but won't use it.
Indonesia really is a beautiful country and I've been saddened by the political situation there, its hard to reconcile the tropical paradise I lived in for three and a half months with the powderkeg of religious and social unrest portrayed in the media. Bali is something entirely different from the rest of the country and violence has been spread all over the archipelago, even 6km from where I was living. But the people I lived with and worked with rarely talked about it, either it was common to them or they didn't want to alarm me. I never felt that my safety was an issue, with a whole city street staring at the
bule at least I knew that I would attract some attention if something happened to me.
I may go back someday, but there are a lot of other places I'd like to see for the first time before I start to re-trace my steps. So keep an eye out for my new blog, I'll be posting a link as soon as I get it up and running. I've been trying to think of a theme for my new blog beyond a personal journal, since I just don't think my personal life is that interesting. Any suggestions?
