December 2015 will very easily go down as one of the most testing months of my life thus far. I was forced to withdraw my placement at my dream university because of some unfortunate circumstances, had to reapply to new schools in 13 days, had two occasions where the law enforcement here assumed I was some sort of refugee or delinquent and realised that racial profiling, though not often outwardly expressed, is still very present in my host community. However this post is not a rant about the difficulties I had, that might come later. This post is more of an acceptance, a thanks and a nod to the future.
I recently took a week off from my Global Citizen Year life to spend some time in Guayaquil with 2 good friends from my the UWC in Hong Kong (my old school). In reality, I’m not sure whether we did much in the touristy sense because a large portion of our time was spend just at home chilling. And it was absolute bliss. Staying at a friend’s home with a sense of familiarity gave me the space and time needed to step back and reflect on the past few months of my bridge year.
They say once you hit rock bottom, you can only go up and this has become a reality for me. In my reflection, I realised that this is not a journey I am undertaking alone. In my worst moments, I had and will always have friends and family who I can fall back on and there is no shame in that. I know for sure that thanks to the support of family and friends, I have been able to bounce back and take hold of my experience and make it mine.
Till then, 再见
