It’s hard to believe how much my life has changed in a matter of months. Today, I live by myself alone in a foreign country and do everything on my own. The life I had previously is long gone and is only alive in memories.
In my culture, children in households are not even expected to separate from their parents. Even after marriage, it is the most natural thing for boys to live with your parents and girls to live with them until their married off.
Hence, when I decided on studying abroad- my parents were more than a little reluctant. To a point that initially they would not even hear of it. They would say, “Young girls don’t leave home to live in foreign countries. It is simply not right”. Their belief was that where you don’t have a guardian you cannot be expected to survive.
To a certain extent, before I doubted very much whether I will be able to survive on my own. This is because growing up I was highly dependent on my parents. But it was a dream that I really wanted to accomplish. I was willing to undergo all the hardship in the world to make that dream come true.
So, today when I think of the life I previously had where my parents helped me in every single struggle but are no longer here I feel proud. I feel pride I am alone overcoming all my obstacles. It’s true that there are still many times when I feel helpless when faced with a challenge and I still do struggle quite a bit to adjust. However, it’s no longer struggling to survive but struggling to acquire my goals.
I can identify with your new feeling of independence. Even though I am not studying abroad, I feel like I am because Texas has such a different culture than my hometown in Maryland. I am also adjusting to living an taking care of myself because I am an only child and in some ways have always been a little spoiled and kept an eye on. College is a time where we are supposed to have new experiences and mature. It is great that you feel these changes happening so quickly, even though you probably miss being a kid sometimes.
ReplyDeleteYep, this is going to turn you into a real live grown up person! D=
ReplyDeleteLife moves on so fast that I feel like it's a struggle to just hold on to valuable moments. One moment you're home with your parents while the next they are 10000 miles away from you. You're whole life changes in a single moment and you force yourself to adapt yourselves to new conditions. Its a challenge but you have no option but to comply.
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