Pieces of Home

Recently I had some of my best friends come visit me in Santa Barbara, all of whom I went to high school with in Dubai and now study in the US. Despite going to universities all across the US, including Texas, Washington D.C. and Indiana, they all came for their spring break. Unfortunately this fell during the week right before finals for me, but I simply couldn’t give up the opportunity to see the people who represented the closest pieces of home. As usual, winter quarter weather was quite gloomy, still relatively warm but held a lingering overcast that, in my eyes, took away the bright colors of Isla Vista. The first day they arrived was one of these gloomy days with sprinkles of rain. The first thing I did with them was take a few steps from my house to the beach, since they were all coming from snowy, cold winters. The clouds in the sky made the water a light grey, which honestly made my heart sink because all I wanted was for them to see my beautiful new home! However, their reaction was to immediately whip out their phones, and take pictures of the beach in ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’. They each stood and admired the view for a minute before telling me how beautiful it was. I was quite stunned because the bright blues and strong sun I was used to wasn’t even present, yet they were all amazed. They continued to elaborate on how long they would have to drive to even come close to a beach, let alone one where you could lay out and swim. Although I try my best to acknowledge how lucky I am to be studying in such a beautiful place, whilst pushing myself so far from home, I realized it’s really easy to get caught up in bigger worries and lose sight of the small things.

In an article entitled “Youthful escapes? British students, overseas education and the pursuit of happiness”, it is argued that going abroad for education offers “new possibilities for fun and excitement”. In addition, it explores the modern educational climate that stresses “success” to the youth, which many students in the UK wanted to escape through the pursuit of “the perceived flexibility of a liberal arts education”. Ultimately, an underlying feeling of attempting to prolong their youth became an obvious incentive to take this plunge abroad. Personally, I feel the dichotomy between trying to preserve and take advantage of my youth, versus the pressure to grow up and plan my whole future. Growing up abroad, I definitely underwent a strenuous and high-pressure educational environment. However, coming to the US brought a kind of ease to higher education, as everything was less rigid and more open to academic freedom. With this liberal attitude in mind, I felt as much as I put my academics first, it was important for me going into university to take advantage of the opportunities presented to me. At first, these opportunities included going to big concerts, exploring California through the lenses of my domestic friends, and traveling domestically to gain more local exposure. In my second year, following the visit of my friends, I shifted attention to the smaller things, like making a conscious effort to go watch sunset every week, laying out on my front yard when it’s sunny or reaching out to some incredible people I met here to make plans. Our youth is something so special, and as much as people say “these are the best years of your life”, it’s about what you make it. It took my friends coming from home for me to see that there are so many beautiful pieces to my new home that I so frequently overlook! Although I definitely need some sense of responsibility to be productive, acknowledging the small things, like a sunny day, or a cool bike ride under the palm trees of IV, is just enough to make those pressures feel less heavy.

Citation:

Waters, Johanna, Rachel Brooks, and Helena Pimlott-Wilson. "Youthful Escapes? British Students, Overseas Education and the Pursuit of Happiness." Social & Cultural Geography 12, no. 5 (2011): 455-69.