"A season, a reason, a lifetime"

One of my favorite (YouTube) musicians does something called “One Take Sessions.” Just one take. No re-do’s. Just one shot.

I’m doing a little spring cleaning in my brain before finals. Here’s a post I’m writing in a single draft. A long time coming, but just one take. This is partially due to time constraint (PROCRASTINATION), but mostly because I want it to be candid. 

Will it make any sense? Who cares? The right people will understand every word.

Four years ago, I was 19 years old.

Four years ago, I studied abroad.

Four years ago, I was lost, but then realized that I knew the way all along.

If you’ve read this blog before, you know how important study abroad was for me. It was my first year of college and I wasn’t where I wanted to be. 

The difference between being 23 and 19? I now know (and, more importantly, understand) that I am the only thing standing in my way.

I let myself be sad and feel sorry for myself the first 8 or so weeks of community college, but then I decided to make a change. I did something for myself. It had nothing to do with my major, had nothing to do with a career path.

It was just something I wanted for me. The first thing I wanted just for me.

Whenever I mention study abroad, people think about the stereotypical American student who wants nothing more than to get hammered and not feel guilty because what happens abroad, stays abroad (unless Facebook has anything to say about it). But that’s not the case! This was no ordinary trip.

Yes, there was alcohol. Yes, there was dancing. Yes, there was kebap. But most importantly, there was love. Genuine, whole-hearted, unconditional love.

We were there for each other in every sense of the phrase. Whether someone needed a shoulder to lean on when drunkenly stumbling home from Twice or Space Electronica, or if they just needed a really, really great, squeeze-you-so-hard-you-can’t-breathe hug after a rough day, we were always there for one another.

Before the trip, we were strangers. After, we are family.

Every person you meet does something to change you. Some people will change our lives forever, but that doesn’t mean you won’t ever say your goodbyes. Some people come into your life unexpectedly, but they could turn out to be just what you needed to finally start to become everything that you truly are and have always wanted to be.  

“Every person is a new door to a different world.”

We all see the world around us. We see that grass is green, the sky is blue, dogs bark, cats meow. But it is only through these incredible people in our lives that we truly feel and understand the world around us.  

Before certain people enter our lives, some things are seemingly insignificant.

Starfish. Feathers. Trees.

Some things won’t have meaning until someone helps you finally see them for the first time. These people help you on the path to creating a world of your own. A world that you’d be happy and proud to live in.

To my Firenze family—you made me see the sky. Some showed me how to truly feel the summer sun on my skin. Some made me see the stars dance for the first time. Some showed me that the sky isn’t a reminder of what I cannot reach; it’s a reminder that when I stop trying to simply reach the top, I’ll be able to enjoy the ride and see that I’m free to soar, to live in a world filled with an infinite amount of possibilities.

When I studied abroad, I literally had the best sleep of my life. I slept on a couch right next to our living room windows, and even though I slept like this every night,

I fell asleep knowing that if I were lucky enough to wake up in the morning, I’d open my eyes to everything I wanted.

I’d open my eyes to the azure, Florentine sky.

I miei amici, my Firenze loves, by falling in love with you, I was able to fall in love with me.

A very wise man, Mr. Danny Gamboa, told us that you meet people for a season, a reason, or a lifetime.

I love and miss all of you so much. You are all with me for a lifetime. “For this to never end.”

Four years ago, I was 19 years old.

Four years ago, I studied abroad.

Four years ago, I began to see the world in color.

Thank you.

Because of you, I see the trees.