Culture shock.

Sometimes we walk in the serenity.

We see our next step

and the one after that.

Sometimes we walk in the people.

We see the next person

and the one after that.

Sometimes we walk where we don’t belong.

We walk through the halls

through the streets

through ourselves in our minds

feeling we don’t belong

knowing that they can see.

Then other times

other times still

we walk where we’re needed

we walk where we’re led

we walk into a realm that is all our own

a realm that has always been.

Sometimes we walk in waves

in patterns

in patterns that move themselves

and move through themselves.

Sometimes we walk and see

Feeling like we don't belong.

Other times we walk and be

There we find ourselves

being where we need to be.

Walking around UT these past couple of days has been...

weird

foreign

strange

extraño

different

out of place

out of the ordinary

from a different world.

Here I was supposed to find the familiar and all I'm finding is myself in the strange.

The strange way of walking. 

The strange way of talking.

The strange way of isolating ourselves from a world that is isolating itself from us.

Here comes a person walking towards me now.

Another student.

Another human.

Another being with hopes

dreams

fears

failures

lives lived

stories told

and then there she goes

paths crossed for a moment

a moment in time

but that’s just the culture.

Here I find myself sitting beside a person.

What is he thinking aside from hoping I don’t talk to him?

formal

rehearsed

polite

forced conversation

But I guess that's just the generation.

Silence created by people’s unspoken thoughts is not desired.

But noise created by people’s spoken words isn't either.

Culture shock.

culture shock

culture shock

cultureshock

cultureshockcultureshockcultureshock

The shift of the people take me back to those WAVESWAVESWAVESWAVESWAVES

waves crashing against desolate rocks

Seeing people move in and out

side to side

unaware of the movement in the sea of people

lost within themselves

lost apart from themselves

Into the sea I go

swimming

struggling

struggling to breathe in the midst of this sea

of this culture.

Belonging

feelings of belonging

of truly belonging

are hard to come by.

I am the strange in my familiar

stranger in the midst of strangers

outside a culture

inside a mind

shocked by what I feel

shocked by what I see

rocked by the waves

rocked by the sea.

Shocked by what’s always been there

shocked by what’s always been unseen.