Dear Mom,

Today marks the fifth week I've spent in Argentina. This means I've spent five weeks without your cooking (which I desperately crave right now), without you asking me to go on spontaneous trips to the mall or Whole Foods, and without you brightening up my day when I'm feeling down. I know you miss me just as much or probably more, so I just wanted to tell you: thank you. Thank you for letting me travel around the world, from encouraging me to participate in a foreign student exchange program in Spain when I was in high school, to pushing me to pursue my academic interests in the other half of the world in Argentina. Thank you for trusting me enough to give me so much independence, even though I may not seem to truly deserve it at times. I don't know how many times you've had to send me off at the airport, or how many times I've had to message you about an emergency while I was 5,000 miles away, but I am incredibly grateful to have such an empowering, motivating, understanding woman who loves me unconditionally and who stands by my side always, even if that means only seeing me a few times a year.

Argentina has been absolutely amazing, Mom, and coming here has only fueled my passion for traveling, learning abroad, and expanding my knowledge of other cultures and languages. From Buenos Aires to Mendoza, I have met so many people with so many interesting stories to tell. Even more, I've been learning about public health nonstop, whether these learning experiences are in a classroom or in a hospital. I can only see myself traveling more after this, as one of my ultimate goals in life is to be able to offer medical services to communities around the world, especially in Spanish-speaking countries.

I truly appreciate all that you do for me, Mom. I may be really bad at replying to your messages every day, sending you pictures of all the interesting places I visit, and returning your calls, but I have never stopped loving you or missing you, even though I'm thousands of miles away from you. When I come back home, I'll be going back to Baltimore the next day, and then another country in three weeks. I won't be able to see you much, but I hope you know that our lack of physical interaction does not and will never determine how strong our bond is. In fact, I would never give up our video chats, texting/emoji sprees, phone calls and everything else in between that helps us connect to each other when there's an ocean between us.

So, thank you, Mom. I love you every step of the way.