Today I realized that it’s just two short weeks until I move home from London. I moved here in January for the school term with much trepidation, and way too many pairs of shoes. I had never (with one, five-week long exception) left home before and was so nervous and sad to leave my family. I tried really hard to hold it together until I made it through security and then sobbed at the gate until my flight boarded. May just felt so far away.
Fast forward four months and it
seems like the time has flown by. Over the term, I’ve been presented with a lot
of opportunities as well as a lot of challenges that I simply would not have
had if I’d stayed at home. I’ve had to handle (good, bad, and ugly) living with
roommates for the first time since freshman year of college. I’ve had the
delightfully stressful challenge of navigating five countries and countless
languages over my two-week Spring Break. I’ve learned to navigate the Tube (I’m
now proficient enough to give directions in French!) and that y’all is not a
recognized pronoun in all parts of the world.
More than public transportation and
the lingo, I’ve learned a lot about myself and dealing with other people. I’m
someone who hates confrontation; I genuinely loathe having to go to someone and
have an uncomfortable conversation, even about the smallest things. But I’ve
learned that it’s never as uncomfortable as pushing down how you feel about the
situation. I don’t always get along with my roommates- I sometimes wish they
wouldn’t leave the door open or would wash their dishes so I don’t have to do
them when I want to eat – but it’s taught me that it’s easier to ask someone to
wash something out than to be frustrated when I don’t have a clean plate to use.
It may be uncomfortable or awkward at first, but having an open and honest conversation
with someone goes a long way towards building a better relationship with him or
her, and having more respect for yourself.
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