Just one last week

Posted by Yuka as Hot Cities

It’s just another peaceful Wednesday night with humid and warm air flying into this tidy little room. Nothing seems special for one’s departure. Sitting beside the window, I’m addicted to this self-produced movie with so many things showing up in front of my eyes. Some are touching; some are cheerful; some are in between. All the attempts to describe my feelings at this moment turn out to be in vain. No one can deny that a period of four months cannot be defined with short, especially for a young girl studying abroad for the first time. These days, I’ve occasionally come up with questions like this:”Do you feel regreted?” I said with a satisfied smile:” Definitely no.” Actually, before coming here, there’s no specific expectation existing in my imagination saying what I should do and where I should go. So everything I’ve gotten is a gift, or a surprise from some higher power. It’s true that I can’t tell exactly what I’ve learned or how much I’ve changed. However, with that wonderful experience, which is also a magic sign, I do have an aspiration to declear that at least I’ll miss my life here after going back. Living in a different country totally by oneself may be the toughest challenge for me, but it also provides me a precious chance to spend lots of my time thinking and discovering what kind of life as well as what kind of person I’d like to pursue in the rest of my lifetime. The more I travelled, the clearer and simpler this idea was.

Although my exploration has only been streched to the Mid-west and Northeast of America, great comparison can also be found between those cities with unique lifestyles. I prefer tranquility of Washington DC rather than chaos of New York City; leisure of Baltimore suits my sense more than desolation of Rochester; my choice would be in favor of passion of Chicago instead of depression of Detriot. Even if such comparison have to be limited to my daily life, there’s no doubt to draw the same conclusion. Living alone is supposed to be something more than freedom and enjoyment in my point of view. Sure, at first, it was very fun to do everything in my own way regardless of time and space, and then the joy fell down like a curve. Enormous loneliness and emptiness swarmed into the small world only belonging to myself. The tragedy that you had nobody to talk to when solace was needed was just terrible. Coupled with living in such an isolated place far apart from campus, what I could do was only crying. Nonetheless, sadness has gone and culture shock was defeated finally. After wiping up tears, it was time to make full use of living alone. The most proudful thing I insisted was a regular and healthy life pattern. I went to school every afternoon from Monday to Thursday; travelling usually took place on Friday and Saturday; Sunday would be church service and friends get-together. I got up in late morning and went to bed before midnight. Plenty of sleep together with healthy dinning plus regular phisical exercise contributed to my well-liking skin and energetic body. Fortunately, no sickness occured during these four months while so many people surrounding me fell ill thanks to changeable weather. On the other hand, my psychological well-being has also been improved a lot as a result of the affect of American humor. Although only in an experimental stage, I’ll keep on practcing the three principles of humor: always seeing absurdity in difficult situations; taking myself lightly while taking my work seriously; having a sense of joy of being alive. Everything can be changed as long as true belief that life will get better is still viberating in my heart.

Suddenly, a strong sense of homesick was generated unconciously. All my beloved ones have been seperated from my sight for such a long time. There must be something significant happened in your lives that beyond my knowledge. With our age grows, time will fly faster and faster. I’m really glad to face reverse culture shock and I’m sure nothing will be obstacle with your presence. In the future, this regretless four-month studying abroad experience will be stored in a deep corner of my soul as a gorgeous diamond shinging in the memorable blue sky of North America wherever I go.

by:danmorudai