Swarthmore

In my senior year of high school, I dreamed of going to Swarthmore. When I visited the campus, I was completely enamored by the small college, Adirondack chairs and the proximity to NYC and Philadelphia ( Philly, for a "night life"). You can imagine my disappointment when I was waitlisted. I cried and couldn't stop blaming myself for my failure. I was torn because I knew exactly WHY I didn't get in...it's because of the admissions interview that I missed in NYC with the representative who adored me...she thought I'd stiffed her, but it was an honest mistake...the email she sent me went straight to my SPAM box and I never got the time or date of the interview. é foi uma foda!

Then I got into Middlebury. Middlebury was the last school that I heard from. I remember the exact moment I checked online. I was at SEO after some programming event. It had been a long day and a dull meeting about how to survive college. I went downstairs to the computer lab to check and I honestly never thought that I'd get in...but long behold, my acceptance letter. I was beyond thrilled...it was the only other small, liberal arts college that I applied to. Marc (my guidance counselor) predicted in November that I'd be going to Midd. I couldn't believe his prediction came true. The only drawback at that time was that Midd was too cold and a bit further than I'd expected to be away from my parents.

But I thought fuck that. Fuck Swarthmore. I'm going to Middlebury.

And I have never regretted not going to Swarthmore. Attending Middlebury has been one of the best life decisions that I've made.

Randomly, I went to swarthmore.edu to check out their Latin American studies program. Although they don't have International Studies, their Latin American studies program seems pretty interesting. But other than that, they don't offer Portuguese. Their study abroad programs are limited and seems solely geared for Buenos Aires(and ironically, the program in Chile is through Midd!)

Basically, if I went to Swarthmore, I would not be studying Portuguese (and probably be in Buenos Aires!) therefore, I would not be in Brazil. If I went to Swarthmore, I would have never fallen in love with Brazil. I would have continued to be ignorant about the inferiority of Portuguese (sorry Mariana, my first Brazilian friend in high school--we used to have debates in history class about Spanish vs. Portuguese). My life would have been so different. I could be speaking Spanish almost fluently! wow...what a reality shock.

But I went to Middlebury. I pursued Portuguese, despite all the difficulties I encountered from the shift from Spanish to Portuguese. And now I'm here, studying abroad in Brazil. All because of one email I never got. okay, I'm being dramatic, but seriously, if I'd gotten the email about the interview, went to the interview, and received my acceptance from Swarthmore, I'd never gone to Midd...! Never gone to Middlebury. now that's a scary sentence.

AND SO, in conclusion, I'm so happy with where I am in my life. I'm so grateful to be a Midd kid. I'm so grateful to have such wonderful, amazing friends in my life. you guys know who you are. <3 The greatest moments at Midd that I have experienced is with you guys.

I never ended up going to Swarthmore because Midd was a better fit for me and I would have never realized that without being waitlisted.(see, sometimes there are positive outcomes from negative events!) I mean, conversely, I'm sure there would have been other things in store for me at Swat, but I wouldn't give up what I have at Midd with my Midd friends for anything to see what could have been at Swarthmore. I hear the college is full of socially awkward nerds anyways...haha

It's so funny how you end up where you're supposed to be, without intending to in the first place. and that is why life is so beautifully complex. Life always has its plans and that plan is always in motion. A butterfly flaps its wings and it starts to rain. It's an intimidating thought but it's also kind of amazing. All these little parts of the machine are constantly working, making sure that you end up exactly where you're supposed to be, exactly when you're supposed to be there. (inpsired by HIMYM.)


**It's not my intention to offend any Swat student or Swat affiliates...I'm just writing to demonstrate a point and it so happens that Swarthmore had to be named.