So I need to connect the dots between my study abroad experience currently, and life after I graduate. The thing is, it’s hard to think about life after graduation right now. I don’t know about anyone else but I feel trapped in some sort of limbo. I am a sophomore trying to figure out her path in life. I’m too old for high school, too young to understand what being an adult really means. I am a teenager entering her twenties and a creative spirit trying to figure out how to make sense of a technological world. In short, I honestly have no idea how this experience will affect me after graduation but I will name some things that I hope I can always carry with me.
Currently I am learning a lot about myself. I am learning about what is important to me, what I love, my real strengths, weaknesses, limits, and most of all what kind of person I would like to be. Just within the two short months that I have been here I feel as though I have been tested in every way possible. Things I never thought I would try, I am trying here in France and it really feels good. There are times when I get sad and the days seem to drag on forever and there are times when I have the most fun I’ve ever had in my life and time seems to fly. So this is what I have decided: When I graduate from my university I want to leave having done all that I possibly could and learning as much as I could. I don’t want to regret one thing. When I graduate from college, these times will be over. I will never get them back. I want to graduate with insight from people I wouldn’t normally talk to. I want to speak another language. I want to be excellent at whatever I do. The only person in my way is me. Coming to France has made me realize that if I can make it here I can make it anywhere.
France is really showing me that life is too short. I have talked to so many people about what career I should choose. I have talked about the positives and negatives. I have talked about my fears and my excitement. I have meditated for hours about what I should do and how I should do it. I have worked out a million plans in my head, and I think I am finally realizing that I should just do what I love doing. I should study what I love studying. The last thing that I want to do is graduate feeling like I wasted my time being miserable because I talked myself into doing something that I never wanted to in the first place. When I graduate, my ultimate dream is to be accepted into the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts for Animation and Digital Arts. I know that it feels far off but it is something that I really want and I know that I can make happen. I want to feel confident when my study abroad experience is over, knowing that I can walk into any place and be just as good as everyone else. I may not know everything or be the best but I believe as long as I am open to learning and growing, the same way I am willing to learn in France, I can go as far as I want in life.