Month: January 2016

studying abroad is the most selfish thing that you can do.

But it is the most selfish thing that you must do.

I didn’t begin my study abroad experience necessarily with any expectations. Of course I had hoped that it would be a great time and that I would form memories for life, but that seems like a given. Don’t we go into any experience thinking it will be a great thing?

My experience abroad has been the most liberating thing I have experienced thus far in my life. I had five whole months to do whatever I wanted. That sounds worse than it actually is. I obviously had pretty solid parameters, but I could really focus on doing the things only I wanted to do. I could take the courses that truly fascinated me, form relationships with people who intrigued me, travel to places that seemed worth discovering to me, and discover what all these connections meant to me as a person. How these connections form what matters the most to me.

I have learned that I am happiest when I am doing something that betters the social welfare, or social justice. Feminism empowers me and it is what gets me going. I am happiest when I am learning about the effects of postmodernism on how we perceive what it is that gives us happiness. The things we value are inherently subjective and a product of our individual realities. There is no objective truth.

I know this may sound like I just turned into a free-spirit hippie who has no concept of reality, but I mean it. I think it is bull-shit that there is only one thing that will make me successful. There is no one path designed for you. The more time you spend with yourself, the more time you spend learning what you love. You begin to understand that if you are good at something, you will succeed at it. You really begin to believe it because it is the only thing that makes sense to you.

Europe has been wonderful to me. Amsterdam specifically has shown me so many beautiful things. I can no longer look at it through the eyes of a newborn baby. It is a piece of me. It has given me so much joy over the past five months. I do not regret staying when everyone left (even though it wasn’t on purpose). This past month itself has shown me how important all of this is – immersing yourself in a culture and dipping into the surfaces of others.

It is only the beginning for me. My travels only begin here. I truly believe leaving your home can change your world. And by home, I don’t mean the physical space. I mean the feeling of home. Because if you only reduce your home to a physical space, you ignore that you can form other homes, and that is so very, very tragic. Because a home can give you so much more than shelter. It can give you a feeling of familiarity, of ease that everything is going to be okay. Amsterdam is my home; it does that to me. And that is why this selfish thing is the best thing, the best thing that everyone truly should do.

budapest: a city of a common struggle

When I first booked my ticket to Amsterdam, which was super early in May because I desperately needed to leave NYC, I wasn’t sure when the semester ended. I simply looked at the UvA calendar, which is the academic calendar at the University of Amsterdam, my larger university, and saw that it was on January 29th. I figured, okay that’s long but I guess, doable. It was only till later that my silly and eager self found out that the January month was completely optional. Oops, I had said.

With everyone leaving right before or around Christmas, I figured I had to make the most of my time here. So I convinced my best friend Sima to come visit me and travel with me. I also tried to convince my other best friend Elizabeth to come travel, but she only decided to visit for a week, as she had an internship to start.

So Sima and I, along with our friend Katia, decided to travel together to three cities we thought would be worthwhile: Prague, Vienna & Budapest. Little did I know how much I would fall in love with one in particular – Budapest.

Both Prague and Vienna were such beautiful cities, but something about Budapest felt all too familiar. The people, the atmosphere, the common struggle felt all too close to my own people – the Poles. Of course, it shouldn’t really have surprised me as these both were countries – Hungary and Poland – were occupied by the Soviet Union in a very similar way. After the resistance and after Stalin’s death, a much less harsh communism regime took over and there was room for a voice. They, unlike many of the other Soviet satellite states, were also very Catholic, so simply religious in general. This remains true until today. Poland and Hungary are one of the two only Catholic practicing countries in Central/Eastern Europe, while most of Eastern Europe remains very non-practicing religious.

But what to me was even more similar was the culture, the language. The language especially because the language itself was so very, very different. But the language – the sound, the sound was the same melodic sound. And the expressions of the people. The faces. Hardworking faces. Solemn faces. Kind faces. The foooooooood, well the food was confusing because it was filled with the country’s pepper, the red pepper – or paprika, as they call it. So, a bit of it reminded me of a Latino-Hispanic country – and don’t get me wrong, the Hungarians, at least in Budapest, looooved Latino culture too (it very much flourished the city) – but, it also flourished with the food of my people. Goulash & letcho – mmmmmmm.

So why a common struggle? Well, because neither countries have had an easy history. They have been attempted to be annihilated or taken over because they were so important in European politics & the fight over land.

I would highly recommend that the Poles really try to create some natural hot springs, because Lord Jesus, those Turkish baths melt you into happiness.

I loved Budapest & I will continue to do so. It is a city melting with culture and vibrancy.