Out of the Loop

One thing about studying abroad is that I have to work to find news from the US. Of course, Mexican newspaper have information about the US, but I feel like I'm isolated from everything that's happening in my home country. I haven't figured out if that's a good or bad thing yet. I just know that reading about things online or in a foreign newspaper is different than living it. Val, our program director, just came back from the US. She was surprised with how much the economy is dominating the US news. I honestly haven't thought much about the recession, expect that the exchange rate is just getting better and better for us. I know that's a bad thing, especially for Mexico, who is trying to stop the devaluation- with little to no success. I worries me because Mexico is bordering on become a failed state, where all government processes just fail to work anymore. The economic problems have a little to do with that, the drug cartels are the main problem.

I guess being in another country during the recession, the worst financial crisis of my life, gives me different perspective. I see here that life doesn't have to be full of luxuries. I knew that before, but living here without those luxuries (like AC, TV, DVDs, video games, fancy cars and houses) I realize living without something like Television is kind of nice. We can survive just fine without having the newest and latest things. Eveyone here can. I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to say, other than that I'm not so worried about the future of the economy. Well, other than paying off student loans. But I'm going to ignore that for the time being. Countries have survived worse things economically, and in the US we are still living nicely. Maybe having to cut back on a few things is good...although I'm still really glad I have facebook, email, and my blog. I'd be really lonely with them!

I just realized that President Obama may be speaking about the economy to Congress now. Interesting that I should choose now to write this post.