cambia, todo cambia

"Cambia lo superficial/Cambia también lo profundo
Cambia el modo de pensar/Cambia todo en este mundo....

Cambia el rumbo el caminante/Aúnque esto le cause daño
Y así como todo cambia/Que yo cambie no es extraño....

Pero no cambia mi amor/Por mas lejos que me encuentre
Ni el recuerdo ni el dolor/De mi pueblo y de mi gente

Lo que cambió ayer/Tendrá que cambiar mañana
Así como cambio yo/En esta tierra lejana"

The lyrics above come from a famous song by Argentinian Mercedes Sosa called Todo Cambia (everything changes). Mercedes passed away two weeks ago--actually the same weekend that I went home to San Antonio to see some old friends and attend a concert where another song she made famous (Alfonsina y el Mar) was sung by a vocal ensemble called Voci di Sorelle (which includes my dear friend Cara!).

My life has changed a lot since I last posted on this blog (I realize that my two month absence means that no one is reading, but...). This past week was the hardest of my grad school life to date. I had to write a 12-page midterm exam synthesizing 400 pages of reading from the last seven weeks. And then I had to turn around and write 4 more pages for another class the next day. Not surprisingly, it took a toll, and I got sick. Sometimes it seems that's all my life consists of--read, study, write, eat, (and sleep...but not enough).

For that reason, I cherish all the more the brief spaces where I find companionship and conversation here. Some of those more memorable moments from the last two months include the party my roommates and I threw on Labor Day weekend, walking along Town Lake with my friend Leti, a shared coffee at Medici with Jake, UT games with Cory and Tony, a late lunch with a small group of friends from my Latin American studies program, small group on Tuesday nights, running with Meg, and talking politics with my Benedictine monk friend Paul.

Slowly but surely I am forming a small network of new relationships here in Austin--and it's good, but it's also hard. Starting over always is, and I know that. Even more so when everyone's level of busyness is way over the top. It means some days I really miss the tranquilo-ness that characterized even my most stressful periods of life in Nicaragua. I still think about those days and those friends every day. And I don't think that will ever change.