Embrace
Newsletter
Embrace!
by Esther on 19 June 2024
Oh, how has the time gone by? I still find myself ever stunned by how quickly second term of uni went by. I had amazing roommates and suitemates, I had amazing professors, and I met the coolest people across the first two terms. Sure, there were hard days, but the good days made me wish the year never ended. But life moves on, and with that comes time to reflect.
If I could sum up my first year of uni in one word, it would be “embrace.” Growing up, I was never proud of the fact that I looked different, was raised differently, and spoke a different language. But coming into university, I finally began to embrace my identity. Going from an environment where there were few like me to an environment of over-emphasis on race and ethnicity, university allowed me to healthily embrace my background because I had friends who just like me were not native to the United States (U.S.). This allowed for a good exchange in conversation about lifestyles and made me realize that many things I had normalized were actually very odd and specific to the U.S. Such conversation has ultimately helped me ponder more about career options post-graduation, a topic for the future.
But even on home turf, there was one major realization that my friend Klara brought to my attention. I was asking Klara, a Swedish student who spent a whole year at my uni, whether she was ready to go home, and her response really put how I felt about life to words. She told me how she was ambivalent about it as her studying in the U.S. was like a pause in life while her friends at home continued with their lives. Furthermore, due to the schedule differences, when she went home, her friends were still in school. I just found that answer resonates with me as I had to navigate which friends from my past to stay in touch with while I was away studying. While my studies are nowhere as distant as my friend Klara’s knowing this has helped me understand why going home has its difficulties as I watched friend groups change and live life at home, while I was away.
So often, social media have been advertised to aid in being able to keep in touch with many people, but I found it super draining to spend time scrolling through all the activities my friends with and had to overcome feeling guilty for not checking everything and liking everything. My favourite proverb has always been “It is better to have a few close friends than hundreds of acquaintances,” and I really had to turn towards that as I realised some close friends stay while others fade into the masses and new people take their spot in the inner circle. Furthermore, I had to realise that just because I stopped staying in constant contact with someone, does not mean that every interaction I have had with friends, acquaintances, and strangers is not worth cherishing.
As life changes, other factors of life change too. It is better to embrace and cherish every memory in the now and be okay with moving on, meeting new people, and trying new things. Happy adventures to you, and I hope to share my summer ambitions with you in the next newsletter.
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