Day 35: End of the Road

After 26 straight hours of transit (2 bus rides, 2 taxi rides, and 3 flights), I now find myself a little jetlagged but also home in Houston. The journey home gave me an opportunity to reflect on the past 35 days a bit.

The Fulbright-Hays Program is truly something special. I am so impressed with the objectives of the program and think it is an outstanding avenue for developing cross-cultural awareness and appreciation. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is engaged in the field of education. The Fulbright Commissions in Argentina and Uruguay (people like Carolina Rodriguez, Belen Vistalli, Norma Gonzalez, and Linda Gonzalez, and the entire Fulbright Commission staff) were very impressive and gracious in hosting us throughout our time in Argentina and Uruguay. We were provided with many, many opportunities to learn new insights about the places we visited through a vast array of experiences. I learned a great deal about both countries through this experiential approach, and certainly feel equipped with new information and knowledge that I will hopefully be able to bring back home to my classrooms and community at large.

I also learned about how special both Argentina and Uruguay are in terms of their histories, physical landscapes, and cultural richness. We encountered so many nice people in the places we visited along the way. If you are looking for great places to visit, these countries are definitely worthy of strong consideration.

Traveling with this particular group of people (the 15 other teachers) was one of my favorite aspects of the program. Beth, Lina, Anita, Robin, Amy, Maddie, Jennifer, Aida, Carol, Ana, Ligia, Sara, Madhu, Sarah, and Laura helped make this journey very memorable and getting to know each of them was rewarding and enriching. They are a fun, dynamic, and impressive set of individuals and I felt quite privelaged experience this ride with them. I definitely feel that I have come out of this journey with some new friends.

Last but not least, I would like to say thanks one final time to all of you who have followed this odyssey. I hope my humble collection of anecdotes these past few weeks hasn't lulled you into a deep slumber. I can say that your interest and support really made the journey all the more fun, and I felt very much that we were taking this trip together in spirit. So for now and until the next time, goodbye and farewell...