Mochi?
I’m already guessing by looking at the title that you’re skeptical about what this blog post could be about, but it’s not all about food, I promise. Anyway, I came across this delicacy (in my eyes) called mochi. It is a chewy but soft little cake with a sweet, savory red bean filling. The texture of the outside is so outlandish to me that I was taken back at first. I took a bite and then proceeded to buy my own, however, I bought two and couldn’t even finish an entire one. The rest of it went to the trash and I gave the other one to my roommate. It was just so filling, even though it did taste good. Fast forward to two weeks from my initial mochi encounter. I decided to give it another try and it has become a part of my daily life, as I try to get one every day. Luckily, I can buy them right across the street from my residence hall at Ohho Noodles Market, shout out to them for keeping me nourished!
Bloop
The purpose of me talking about mochi, besides the fact that it is the best thing ever, is that it serves as a metaphor for my experience in Miami so far. At first, I was very excited to get down here to the “place to be” and the first few days were very fun because I was experiencing things other than South Beach. Also, it was my group’s first time being together for an extended amount of time, so it was fun trying to get to know each other through a series of games we’d play at the dorm prior to starting our work day. It did get old very fast though, especially when work started (haha). I still wanted to go out and enjoy Miami after work but no one was ever up to go out which was very new to me because I am a very outgoing person. I thought,”How could I be this bored in MIAMI?” Coupled with that, I didn’t really feel close with anyone and home was all I could think about. As a result, for a few weeks I was very closed off and didn’t really get any interaction with anyone but my roommate after work.
What really matters 🙂
Here we are today, six weeks into the program with only two weeks left to go and I am actually sad to think about leaving this beautiful city and my group members. Although it took a while, I actually do feel at home and adjusted to Miami which I thought I was in my first blog post. This experience has been so similar to my relationship with mochi because at first Miami was great and then it became almost unbearable. However, now I am loving it, immersing myself into the many different cultures, and most importantly having fun.
