Farewell Macau

There was an odd feeling I had when I started to read my first post for the first time since I wrote it. I briefly mentioned my anxieties over trying to figure out how airports work; and in many previous posts, I expressed similar worries over things like buses and trip planning and language barriers that now seem slightly trivial to me. This past weekend, I was in middle of returning home alone. I even had to deal with a last minute change of plans due to the very long delay of my first plane which would have prevented me from getting to my connecting flight. I had to take a different plane on a completely different route to London instead of Los Angeles, which I think would have made me completely freak out a few months ago, especially since I was alone. But now I have gained enough experience to take it all in stride, just following the new plan and do what I have to do. No doubt, I’m still a spaz that will freak out the moment that complicated problem rears its ugly face, but I feel like this trip has done much more for me than simple sightseeing.

I can truly appreciate the world we live in, where a large group of friends can be formed with people from America, Norway, Brazil, France, China, Malaysia, Finland, Korea, Sweden, Japan, Canada and Portugal; through language barriers and cultural differences and political situations that would have separated us not too long ago. I can appreciate how we can laugh so hard and cry so hard through a friendship that only started six months ago. So many of us feel so deeply towards each other, it’s amazing that we only met because we chose the same school in the same city out of the millions of other options we had. When we had to say goodbye, it was like saying goodbye to family members that you don’t know when, if ever, you’ll be with them again. We will try, but life can take us in so many directions. However, it’s during these bittersweet moments that I hold onto the words “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

In the last six months, I’ve been on ten planes, traveled over 20,000 miles, and I guess circumnavigated the world since I traveled west to get to Hong Kong the first time and continued westward to return home. I don’t know, that means something to me at least. I’m really looking forward to my next trip, whenever or wherever that is, especially since I have a lot of wonderful friends all over the world to be my tour guides. But as I got closer and closer to home, I became more and more excited to be home, and not just because I kept on getting nose bleeds from the plane. There is something really special in sitting in my living room, eating pizza, and competing with my family members as we shout out Jeopardy answers that aren’t in the form of a question. You can’t really beat driving around town with your little sister, arguing about who’s in control of the AUX chord. And I have been dying to experience another after dinner performance of my sisters’ very “eccentric” dance moves. After a very nice reunion with my family at the airport and the return drive home, I was surprised to find my bed so soft and my shower so powerful compared to what I became accustomed to. At restaurants, I realized that I didn’t have to point to what I wanted to eat every time. And whenever I want to go somewhere, I don’t think about bus schedules and I just drive. These differences are subtle, and it won’t take long to forget them, but for the time being, I’m glad that I can reflect on my time abroad in these ways.

January 20, 2018

May 18, 2018

I must say that I’ve really enjoyed chronicling my various adventures to all of you, and I hope they have been helpful, if not entertaining. I know that it will serve as a great collection of memories that I can look back on and reminisce. I’m sad to say that this will be my last blogging post unless I take it up again sometime in the future, but I feel like it could be a real possibility. It’s been a pleasure my friends, but for the foreseeable future I say,

再见！

TL;DR: I look back on how going abroad has affected me, but I'm also looking forward to the many adventures that will come later in life, it's been a wild ride, but this is my last post, so I thank everyone who has supported me throughout these 6 months 😊.