Every year on July 3rd, I like to reflect on the past year. It might seem like a rather arbitrary date, but it's not. It's the day I left home 5 years ago and started this whole international living thing.
Five years sounds like such a substantial amount of time. And it has been. Five countries (Costa Rica, Colombia, the US, Finland, and Germany) where I've had a mailing address, 8 places I've called home, 4 languages I've used on a daily basis at some point during those years and so much change in me. I almost wish that almost 30 year old me could chat with almost 25 year old me. I'm not sure what we'd make of each other.
On July 3rd last year, I gave my 2 weeks notice at the job I had in the States, preparing to leave for Finland.
In the past year I've lived in 3 countries, learned 2 new languages well enough to have basic conversations, taken somewhere over 30 credit hours (I think. . . I've lost track), met hundreds of new people, written the first 16 pages of my thesis, traveled to 4 countries for the first time (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), come precariously close to falling in love, and made my theater debut on a German stage.
No wonder I've been feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted lately.
66% of me wants to settle down and stop wandering. The other 34% looks at every international internship opportunity that comes my way and goes, "hmmmmmmmm. . . ." while googling new places.
In the next year, if all goes according to plan, I should graduate and leave Europe. But at this point, I have no idea where July will find me. Back in the States? Back in Latin America? I'm hoping to have found a job I am happy about by then and to be settling in somewhere for a more extended stay.
1 comment:
I think what you're doing is fantastic! Keep following your heart and you'll make the right decisions. You don't realize that you are still so young and have so much time for plenty more adventures before settling down. Love, Aunt Cherie
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