The art of meeting people, and then having to say goodbye
A new year has ended, and although it’s only the middle of second year for me, I always reminisce about the last semester when I come back home. For the ones that are just starting the journey of studying in the UK, there’s going to be a moment when you realise how much you can change in a couple of weeks of being abroad and in an unusual place, and for me this is still a reality.
Meeting new people is one of the factors that I believe contribute for someone to change constantly and this semester I realised that saying goodbye it’s another factor. Being able to meet people from all over the world is one of the advantages that studying in the UK has, and soon enough you’ll find out you have friends in countries you didn’t even know existed. And then, without realising, you must say goodbye to them, to the people that become your little pseudo-family.
I believe most of the readers by this point might be asking themselves why am I talking about goodbyes if I’m only on my second year, and to answer I’m going to say that, lucky or unluckily enough, most of the close friends I’ve had are people that only stay in Leeds for 6 months because they’re studying English, doing a semester abroad, etc. However, when I say goodbye I don’t only include these friends, but also the ones that I’ve meet and that for some reason have taken another path in their lives, despite living in the same city and despite having them on social media.
After experiencing a couple of goodbyes in the last three semesters I’ve been in the UK, all I can say about it, is that every single person I’ve meet during this time have left a little bit of their lives, their love, their laughs, their experiences and their wisdom in me, and for that I’ve not only realised how much I’ve learned but also how much left I have to learn about people, about the world and about myself.
Nonetheless, I’m glad I have so many countries in the world I can go to and be sure there’s going to be a familiar face to welcome me, and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to add memories with them, memories I know will be with me all my live (even though I have the worst memory). And finally, for the readers, the moral of this blog entry is: don’t worry about saying goodbye to people that you’ve become close to, you’ll always have them in you and in all the pieces of you that have changed, for good and bad.
Maria Jose is currently studying Music Technology BSc (Hons) at Leeds Beckett University. She took the NCUK IFY at St Peter’s International College, Bogota, Colombia.