My
Story
It is not every day that someone can say they commute
between two countries every day to go to school, but I can say with a newfound
confidence that I have been able to navigate this challenge with only a few
hitches along the way. I embarked on this study abroad with the mindset that I
would reduce the costs as much as I could so that I could allocate money to
seeing all of Europe. As I result, I am living with my Swedish aunt and her
husband in a small village in southern Sweden and commuting an hour or more
one-way into Copenhagen every day for class.
There are times when I still do not believe that I am
here living the dream that I had only a faint picture of when I was a senior in
high school. I have been saving money for the past five years to do something
big with my life. I am doing just that, hopping on trains across countries,
taking flights to countries that I had only ever seen pictures of, meeting
people from across the globe, and opening my mind to the possibilities that are
available to me. It felt surreal once my passport finally arrived with its
maroon cover, gold crown pattern, and the words “Europeiska Unionen Sverige
Pass”. All my new Swedish and Danish friends joke that I have a way to go
before I am officially Swedish, but to me, this passport connects me to the side
of my heritage that I do not know as well as my Irish heritage. It reminds me
of how hard I worked to get here; all the frustration was worth it in the end.
Being here has allowed me to appreciate how much my
parents went through as immigrants to the US. The cracks on their hands reflect
the hard labor they have had to do every single day since their first day in
the US, while my hands are less than half as cracked and aged as theirs. Every day I can see how they have sacrificed for my future success and
happiness. Not too long ago, the idea of college was not a certainty. We were
unsure if we were going to ever be able to afford it, but because of my
parents’ immigrant attitude, “by god I was going, no matter what we have to
do”. Ever since then, that spirit has burned within me and pushed me farther
than I ever thought I could go. I am propelled by the efforts of my parents and
the efforts of my Irish grandmother who raised 12 kids by herself after my
grandfather died, propelled to be what they dreamed of being but were not able
to fully achieve because life does not always go as planned.
I have traveled to Germany, the UK, parts of Denmark,
and different cities in Sweden, and I have many more plans to visit France,
Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, and explore Ireland
even more than I have. I have learned so much about myself that has been buried
underneath stress, self-comparison, and low self-esteem. Studying abroad is the
best decision I have made in life, not just because of how financial aid
relieved my worries about money but also because of the time I have granted to
be a kid again and to be fascinated by the wonders of life. Here I can once
again reconnect with my love for new experiences and most importantly reconnect
with my love for myself. At home, the days go by so quickly that I do not get
the time to do these things. I am so incredibly grateful to be here living my
best life, and I will look back on this time fondly. Thank you LIHC for
reminding me how wonderful the world and life really is, without this
opportunity I am not sure I would be as happy as I am now.
