So, I sort of borrowed some inspiration from my friend Rowan here. You should check him out, his posts and stories are fantastic and he’s going to Germany the same time I am, so it’ll be cool to see some different experiences through his blog. Only if you want, though. He’s kind of a loser. (like me)
Anyways, He made a post about living life to the fullest that really got me thinking. I’ve been feeling awfully temporary now that my exchange is coming up quickly. I know that’s kind of a strange way to word it, but it’s accurate. I mean, I’ll be leaving in what, five months now? And that time limit puts a lot of things into perspective. For example, meeting people and making new friends at this point is strange to me, because I know that I’ll be leaving them soon. As it is now, I don’t really have a lot of friends who I want to keep in touch with over the next year. I have two or three people who I can confide in, and that’s enough for me. I also have a large network of acquaintances and people I like to catch up with every once in a while. Those people come and go, because I’ve never been able or motivated to fight to keep people in my life. I always assumed that I’d be able to reconnect with them another time, and that assumption is kind of what’s brought me here. I really regret not connecting, or staying connected, with more people when I still had time to. I see so many potential relationships now that I’m aware that I have a time limit to make these connections happen, and I sort of wish I had felt this way a long time ago.
The thing is, I’ve always had a time limit. I knew that highschool was only five years and that graduation was quickly approaching, but I’ve never made the kind of effort that I’m making now. Throughout my whole highschool career, I’ve been on the brink of a lot of different groups of friends, but I’ve never really been completely enraptured by one group of people. Although exhausting, I think this worked to my benefit in the long run. I’ve been able to talk to and hang out with a lot of different people over the years. Even so, I’m really hoping to continue in every moment of the weeks I have left. I probably ask a new person a week to come have coffee with me. Sometimes, they say no or don’t have time, but I’m over being embarrassed about it. At least I’m trying, which is more than a lot of people do.
Being comfortable in a group of people is fine. Really, it’s good to have a large support system to back you up when things get rough. But I really encourage giving it a try to go out of your way to meet people. This applies to regular people, current exchange students, rebounds, and future exchange students. The most beautiful this is that you don’t have to do anything radical to make new friends. I always thought you needed a common context to be able to become friends with someone, but it’s dawning on me that that’s not true at all. Invite them to coffee in the hallway at school, get their number at a party and offer them a ride home, whatever. Chances are, they’ll be surprised and pleased that you took the time to reach out to them.
That’s that, I guess.
-Andrea
