Am I ready to go to Queen Mary University of London for three months? Well… for many their semester abroad comes to them as a new challenge, but I consider myself lucky due to the fact that I’m actually quite used to this already.
The first time I lived abroad on my own I was only 13 years old. I went to Ottawa for an exchange program that lasted a month and a half. This was my very first time having to adapt to a new environment, language, and community in order to survive a specific amount of time away from the comfort zone of my home.
The second time around everything was easier. I left Guatemala with 18 years of age in order to continue my higher education at Rollins College. This meant that for the next four years I would no longer be living in Guatemala but in Orlando. Adapting was again part of the process.
As of this moment, I am finishing a two-month internship program in Hong Kong. During this program I was able travel by myself and explore six different cities (Hanoi, Kyoto, Macau, Phuket, Beijing). In the process of venturing these new surroundings I immersed myself in the community and its culture. Traveling alone can be daunting but once you do it you realize it’s actually very stimulating and helps you to grow as a person. Besides, it’s a lot of fun because you are forced to meet new people!
Now I am getting ready to travel to London in a month to spend the remaining months of 2019 there.
I have traveled, I have adapted, I have succeeded, and I believe that my identity has provided me with the necessary skills to do so. My background and worldview can both be summarized in three words: Guatemalan, Female, Catholic. You can expect me to be a very conservative person and very loyal to my traditions. I am. But I have grown up exposed to different cultures resulting in me being very open to meeting new people and learning about their cultures. I believe that my identity has influenced me in seeing the world not for what it has to offer to me as a girl, a Latina, or a religious person (given that they are sometimes considered minorities when compared to their counterparts). On the contrary, I have learned to venture the world and appreciate it for what it actually is what I can see in it. For example, just because I am a catholic it doesn’t mean that I don’t admire the big pagodas that are dedicated to Buddha in Asia. They are stunning. And just like this example, there are many places that are to be appreciated for the beauty and finesse that comes from simply being.
Now, even though I adapt very quickly this doesn’t mean that there is no relevant process to achieve that. I do have expectations and preconceptions of places before I visit, which is completely normal. As for London specifically, I imagine the cultures to be very different to the ones I have met in continental America and Asia. I think London, as many other cities in Europe, is full of history, pride, and a lot of politics. I am going to encounter completely new attitudes that I have never been exposed to in Orlando, Hong Kong, or even Guatemala. I can’t imagine what the British think about Brexit, or their progressiveness towards liberalism, or even their ideology when considering what the beast method to rule a country is. Regardless of the answer, I am exited and ready to have a new place and culture to call my home for the next three months. So I ask again: Am I ready to go to Queen Mary University of London for three months? … All I can say is: London here I come!