That December 24, 2019 at the El Dorado International Airport in the city of Bogotá was the strangest day, along with the hardest farewell. It was the first time I was going so far away from home and alone. An indescribable feeling, although I am not a man to show feelings. There were no tears, but you could feel the tears of farewell. - It's not like I'm going to die," I said to myself. After a five-hour flight in a seat as uncomfortable as the situations that followed when I arrived at Stockton University, I arrived at the imposing John F. Kennedy of New York City.
I didn't feel strange, I felt like I was on vacation in a small town near my hometown in Colombia. Still, I was aware that I had flown over part of the Atlantic Ocean, across the Caribbean Sea, and through several countries and even many more cities. That popular saying of "stranger on earth, stranger in itself" did not apply to me, at least for those first few weeks. Without knowing, I was going to feel it as much as that cold of minus seven degrees Celsius when I crossed the departure gate of the famous airport.
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The University of Stockton is one of twelve public institutions in the state of New Jersey, located in the southern borough of Galloway. A small township of 298 square kilometers, full of majestic trees, although many have no leaves, sounds of nature, diversity of wildlife, and variety of neighborhoods, from the most conservative to the most liberal. Majestic houses, the typical Hollywood houses and even the oldest and most dilapidated trailer. These were the first observations I made when I took the bus from the Atlantic City bus terminal to that municipality. There were fifty stops in which I could see all these things that I tell you here.
The University of Stockton has at least nine thousand students. Besides, it was the institution in charge of welcoming me to this country, of being my home for six months, of teaching me things that I still haven't finished deciphering. The only university that has a lake on its campus. This is a place where you always have to do, among its groups, as Latinos Unidos, and the various fraternities, offer a lot of activities for their students. Perhaps this is why I always felt at ease, never strange, never alien to the experience I was living; and even less so when I was always accompanied by my other Colombian companions, two women and a man besides myself.
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However, as I mentioned in previous paragraphs this state of naturalness, confidence and homeliness faced a culture shock. I think everyone knows that the people of Latin America are that kind, loving and joyful person. It may be a prejudice, but that's certainly how most of us are. Being here I realized that this is so ingrained in our culture, that many of us believe that everyone should accept it. Poor those naive people who think that they can, with their cultural background, live in a completely foreign place without feeling like strangers. If this is how I felt, knowing that I am coming for a short period of time, now I can't even imagine those people who decide to go to a new country with different customs and start from scratch.
This discomfort I'm talking about I perceived it with a hug, and a kiss on the cheek to a colleague at the university. I felt silly, uncomfortable, embarrassed, like when on the first day of college you walk into the wrong room, or like you forgot the dialogue in front of an audience of hundreds of people. But here it was just me and her. It was at this point that I understood that, cultural values are so valuable to a person (both to her and to me), to the point of defining what she is, what she wants and where she belongs as a person.