Hello summer. Hello Holland.
I've had one crazy, long yet short, fun-filled, stress-filled year. Not only have I made a lot of new friends, but I have also learned new things about myself and about what is important to me.
I really do have some great memories from this school year. My roommate and I made roommate-diaries, which consisted of little movies in which we talk about our lives and make a bunch of silly faces, we shared our biggest secrets, and we learned to live with each others differences (which did take some time and patience at first!). I started to enjoy little moments of the day: taking a walk to the pond, my roommate leaving a banana chocolate chip muffin in my mailbox, sniffing the New England air, going out for pizza and giggling about the waiter who looks like a Mexican popstar, watching Boy Meets World with a friend while doing crunches at the same time, my friend bringing me an iced caramel latte from Dunkin Donuts (without asking!), sleeping on the other end of my bed with my head next to the window to hear the rain falling down, finding the dorm parent's dog in my room (on my beanbag!), reading the notes left in my closet from as early as 1935, talking to our neighbors with walky-talkies at midnight, banging on the ceiling with a field hockey stick to annoy the people living above me, and curling up on my bed after a long and tiring day and getting ready to watch another episode of my favorite show: 90210.
There are always things that make me smile.
What also makes me smile is that nothing has changed back home.
The cows still look the same, the cheese still tastes the same, my friends are still the same (except taller!).
I left behind my childhood two years ago. Climbing in my window and spying on the city, pulling pranks like throwing chocolate ice cream from the roof which landed on someone's white garden chair (oops!), or tossing dog poop over the hedge into the neigbor's garden (hehe). Not having a care in the world was great, and it's weird how all of that ended after moving to the USA. I'm glad we (as in: my family and I) did though. The USA symbolizes freedom (the Statue of Liberty, for example), and I know that I have become so much more independent and self-assured because of it. Being at boarding school changes everyone. Doing your own laundry, putting together your own breakfast, cleaning your own room, having tons of responsibilities, washing your own bedding, learning how to deal with a roommate, having to motivate yourself to do schoolwork, keeping your head up when you're feeling sick (you can't just not show up for class..), and the list continues. It's been very hard, not going to lie, but it has been great (as you can tell from my other blogposts). I'm just so grateful, for this entire experience, and how it has changed my vision of the future, and I have realized that there are millions of possibilities and opportunities: all you have to do is take them! The choice is completely in your hands. 14-year-old Laura would never agree on going to Oxford University for a pre-college program SOLO! Neither would 14-year-old me ever sign up for a 3 month exchange to Cape Town, South Africa. Thanks to my school, my fantastic teachers, my very inspirational friends, my parents, and of course my 3 AWESOME sisters, I have changed in the past 2 years. I have learned so much from leaving my comfort zone, and I think everyone should do something they otherwise never would.
I'm going to challenge you right now.
Rethink everything in your life. Take chances. Do whatever you thought you would never do.
XO Laura
